Jean-Georges Vongerichten
JoJo/Vong/Prime Steakhouse and many more
http://www.jean-georges.com
Like other great artists who make their work appear deceptively simple, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, chef and owner of JoJo and Vong in New York City and Prime Steakhouse at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, is constantly reminding himself and those who work for him to simplify, simplify. Yet simple hardly seems to apply to this peripatetic chef, flashing between locations to put his touch on 20 restaurants at one time spread across a world of time zones.
When Jean-Georges was first taped for Great Chefs, his entrees listed in bold letters on the menu at JoJo read simply Codfish, Salmon, Lobster, Chicken, Lamb, and Duck. There were no titled dishes.
Such unpretentious presentation might be expected from the chef who wrote Simple Cuisine (Prentice Hall Press), a volume devoted to replacing the heavy sauces and pastry of French haute cuisine with vegetables juices, vinaigrettes, infused oils, broths, and phyllo dough. It becomes surprising only when you recall that this same chef made his name cooking elaborately titled traditional French food with its cream-and-butter-laden soups and sauces. And that one of his signature dishes is the decidedly luxurious Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cakes with Vanilla Ice Cream.
Vongerichten was born in Alsace, France. At age fifteen he became a chef´s apprentice at a Michelin three-star restaurant. His career took him to L´Oasis at the south of France, where he worked for chef Louis Outhier. Vongerichten became part of Outhier´s flying squadron of chefs,‚” opening ten restaurants in such far-flung places as Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Portugal, London, Boston, and New York.
In New York, Vongerichten joined the Drake Hotel and led its Restaurant Lafayette to the New York Times´ highest honor, a four-star rating. Vongerichten then opened JoJo, where he serves his very personal style of simplified cooking. Two years after opening JoJo, he combined the ingredients of Thailand and Vietnam with French techniques and opened Vong, also in New York City. Both restaurants have received the excellent, or three-star, rating from the New York Times. And it was on from there, each new restaurant receiving justly earned applause and honors. Vongerichten´s menus may modestly call dishes just Lamb, or Shrimp, but his creations will never be ‚“just‚” that. It´s not that simple.
