One of Frances old school Micheline 3 star chefs has died in his own restaurant, apparently.
His décor was bazaar and extravagant.
We were treated to a weekend in Lyon and Beaujolais some
years back by a guide book based in France.
We had dinner at Mr Boucouses function rooms which was very
dramatic in every way. All the waiters glided down the flouncy and flamboyant
staircase just like models but carrying silver cloches to our tables.
We were several hundred guests mainly chefs from France and Belguim.
The starter was a terrine of foie gras, the main course was pigeoneau and what
were the garnishes I can not remember.
The dessert was a sponge cake…well a slice of…nothing special.
Then we had prizes and j won something so he had to go to the stage to collect his
prize. It was a wine tasting glass and we have kept it…it lives somewhere in the garage.
The theme of the restaurant was a fairground and as we all arrived at our tables we were
announced.
To our great surprise the evening was ending with a 60 style disco in the basement.
So Bacouse made sure that dining was an experience of the palate and in every other way.
Mr chef Paul Bocuse one of France biggest chef has left us, he was a wonderful gentleman very talented as the world knows.
Repose en Paix Mr chef Bocuse.
seems you led quite the high life. shame a prize from such a talent is only justified to live somewhere in your garage.
Very Blasé about it all.
The man was a legend and your comments are quite offensive to the dead.
While you may not have been impressed and don’t care about the prize, most of the planet who knew the man for what he was saw his as a legend and while some of his dishes as you put it were nothing special, his meus and his culinary skills made him the original and undefeated master chef.
Harry sorry that you found my description of a visit to Paul Bouces s dining rooms blasé.
He was a man who painted lots of colour and fun and I think that I have mentioned that.
I mentioned that the reception was for several hundred people and therefor a slice of sponge
cake …even if it was unexceptional was not offensive.
Not all masters of cuisine cook every thing or even much of what is eaten in their dining rooms.
The prize was kept in our London home for many years and was packed and came with us to
France.
I no longer look for perfection in cooking.
I also cherish the experience of being there and having been chosen to be there in the first place
and I remember a great deal about the event.
I have every respect for great chefs and know and appreciate all the hard work goes into maintaining
the spectacle, the ever fine tuning of a restaurant from composition of menu to execution of dishes to
kitchen hygene and then on to keeping the performance going through the years. Making sure that the
staff are contented and the bills are paid.
There is not an ounce of Blasé in my system Harry.
I have been there and have the " chefs jacket" .
Yes Bocouse was a legend and he will live on in my memories surrounded by admiration for what
he was.
Do you not think Harry that it might be better that you read posts thoroughly before commenting. Barbara got a prize from a guidebook not M. Bocuse. Barbara is known to us all as a former hard working restaurateur not one living the high life and if she says the dessert was less than memorable I would take her word for it, few desserts at large banquets are much to write home about in my experience. The reception was catered for in Bocuse’s function rooms and you’re never likely to get exquisite catering when providing for several hundred invités than for the number of covers in Bocuse’s restaurant and no doubt the organisers of the prize giving would have negotiated a price and consequent quality that they thought economic while recognising that wouldn’t pay for all the bells and whistles. No doubt many awards lie gathering dust in the garage and one so trivial as a tasting glass awarded by a publisher not by a MOF and Michelin starred chef hardly reflects on neither Barbara nor M. Bocuse.
it was how you worded it originally and misspelled his name several times.
now you added it was kept in your home for many years and not just in a dusty corner in a garage alas the … in between words adds to that effect as well…
I am sure if someone managed to spell your name so wrong so many times in a 2 lots of text you also would not b best impressed.
We visit this forum to discuss and,perhaps to share our thoughts and experiences with others.
Others who have ventured to France to enhance or change their lives.
Some times we do not agree with elements which a poster has quoted…and some times
it goes too far and that exactly what you are doing Harry.
What do you know about great chefs or Paul Bocouse for that matter?What do you know about chefs full stop?
I have never been someone who who spells well but that never stopped me being good at cooking.
I am sad that we have lost a great chef but he had a vivid and long life and was respected by those
who had never made the pilgrimage to Lyon.
Most of the details relating to that visit will live with me forever and that includes a lunch time dish eaten
outside Beaujolais where the chefs presented several perfectly poached quails eggs on a plate to an very
large group of diners in a rustic setting.
Cooking is art, cooking is skill, cooking is scientific and sometimes cooking is magic.
Well said Barbara, cooking is totally different from spelling.
It combines art with chemistry and you have to have a hell of a lot more stamina to spend a day in a pro kitchen than a schoolroom.
And, of course it is more than a day.
A teacher has a lunch break…and possibly a tea break…they do not work 16 hrs
per day.
And not usually 5 or 7 days a week.
Have any of you worked full time in a restaurant kitchen?
Give it a rest Barbara. It’s a shame that you have no respect for the teaching profession but your comparisons are not only wrong, they are unnecessary.
Sorry to but in but a restaurant kitchen…come on!
When and for how long and which restaurants?
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Even I have taught …briefly.
Educating kids about fruit and vegetables…was exciting.
But sadly the kids were not that bright…even though they
were from all over the world they knew very little about the
food they ate.
