L’Hotellerie

Master of Port : le sacre de Fabrice Sommier
L’Hotellerie
Le chef sommelier de l'Auberge de l'Ill remporta en 1988 le premier Master of Port avant de devenir, un an plus tard, Meilleur sommelier du monde.

]]> http://www.greatchefs.com/great-chefs-in-the-news-great-chefs/master-of-port-le-sacre-de-fabrice-sommier-lhotellerie/feed/ 0 http://www.greatchefs.com/great-chefs-in-the-news-great-chefs/news-medium-rare-rumbles-and-mumurs-on-starchefs/ http://www.greatchefs.com/great-chefs-in-the-news-great-chefs/news-medium-rare-rumbles-and-mumurs-on-starchefs/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:40:04 +0000 unknown Joachim Splichal, chef and founder of Patina, has selected Tony Esnault as executive chef of his flagship restaurant. Esnault has worked at Auberge d'Ill in Alsace, Louis XV in Monaco, and was the opening chef at Adour in New York. ...]]> Every day Great Chefs searches the web for news about our celebrity chefs, here’s an article we hope you’ll enjoy.

Joachim Splichal, chef and founder of Patina, has selected Tony Esnault as executive chef of his flagship restaurant. Esnault has worked at Auberge d’Ill in Alsace, Louis XV in Monaco, and was the opening chef at Adour in New

Source: http://www.starchefs.com/hlredir.php?id=5145

Looking out across the sea from its seventh floor aerie at the Hotel Carlton, La Belle Otero is celebrated for its “evolved Provencal” dishes. In this formal dining room, Chef Francis Chauveau transforms the rustic Provencal dishes into haute cuisine, refining them by his own brand of alchemy into something far beyond their origins.

Chauveau first trained at the Hotel d’Espagne in Valencay, his native city. Later he worked at the Auberge des Noves, at the Bristol in Paris, at the Pere Bise in Talloires, at La Reserve in Beaulieu, and for the Forquet’s of the Camino Real in Mexico. Chauveau even opened the World Trade Centre in Kinshasa, Zaire.

Returning to France, he worked at the Juana in Juan-les-Pins, then moved to L’Amandier in Mougins where he was the chef for over nine years. Given the challenge of opening La Belle Otero, he took on the task — in the extraordinarily short time of seven months after opening the restaurant had its first Michelin star, and only four months after that gained a second. Chauveau has found ways to blend the delicate scents and flavors of Provence in his cuisine; patrons and critics alike agree, it is something so subtle and unique it cannot be adequately described.

Exciting food that is beyond the expected: This is how critics describe Kevin Rathbun´s cooking. It´s the kind of food he has spent his career learning how to create. His previous position as executive chef at Baby Routh in Dallas let Rathbun bring to Nava and later to Rathbun´s and Kevin Rathbun Steak a grounding in popular Southwest flavors and a well-rounded understanding of regional American food.

You could say that his Missouri birth placed him at the very center of it all, able to gaze out in all directions with a certain amount of perspective. One of Rathbun´s first jobs was in the kitchen at Kansas City´s Au Bonne Auberge, where his mother served as maitre d´ for seven years. Rathbun´s major apprenticeship was under chef Bradley Ogden, at The American Restaurant in Kansas City. Within a year, he was promoted to sous-chef.

‚“I learned a lot from Bradley,‚” Rathbun recalls. ‚“And I especially admired his ability to work with, challenge, and nurture his staff. That trait, together with my mother´s example of hospitality and rapport with dining guests, I will always carry with me from my early training.‚”

Completing his apprenticeship in 1984, Rathbun headed south to Texas to serve as sous-chef at Brennan´s of Houston. Three years later, remaining with the Brennan family, he moved to New Orleans as sous-chef at Commander´s Palace. By 1988 it was back to Texas, to serve as sous-chef and eventually executive chef of Baby Routh. Before that restaurant closed its doors and Rathbun took on the brave new world of Atlanta, Baby Routh had a highly praised run. While Rathbun was at the helm, it drew praise from Mimi Sheraton in Travel & Leisure as ‚“one of America´s 25 best restaurants.‚” In 1993, it received the DiRoNA Award for Dining Excellence.

Rathbun has won awards in every category, including nomination for a James Beard award as Rising Star Chef (early, in 1994), and Share Our Strength´s Southeast Chef of the Year (2002). He´s been featured in magazines, on TV, and as a guest instructor for culinary classes. Share Our Strength is not his only interest; Rathbun also assists the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, Meals on Wheels, the Atlanta Food Bank, and many other projects.

Georges Blanc´s story begins before the French Revolution, when his family opened an inn at Vonnas. Vonnas, in the heart of the Bresse countryside ‚Äî fabled for its fine produce and most especially its chickens (the only ones with their identity and origin certified by law) ‚Äî now owes its spot on the map to the Blanc family. Through generations, they have perfected the art of hospitality. The little inn at Vonnas has grown, and in the last half century it has been heaped with honors. Three Michelin stars in 1981, Gault-Millau acclaim, membership in Relais & Chateaux, these are but a few of the honors the Blanc´s inn has garnered. Georges Blanc took up the mantle after graduating first in his class at the hotel school at Thonon les Bains. After apprenticing, he succeeded his mother as head of the family enterprise when he was only 15.

Georges Blanc has transformed the ‚“inn‚” into an elegant, intimate establishment that is a destination spot. He created the beautiful Courtyard of Flowers, and the Residence des Saules; close by he has created a replica of his great grandparents´ inn, L´Ancienne Auberge. Blanc has also created a boutique, and a ‚“vinotheque,‚” a spot for wine-tasting. As for wine, his cellar has over 120,000 bottles representing over 2500 defined wine regions. It was awarded the Grand Award by Wine Spectator. In the village of Aze in the Maconnais region, he has planted his own vineyard and set up his wine-making facility. Blanc´s Domaine d´Azenay has won many Gold Medals, and the status of reference Domaine in South Burgundy.

Blanc is also an author. He has written several books, Mes Recettes (1981 and 1982), La Cuisine de Bourgogne (1982), Ma Cuisine des Saisons (1984), and Les Blancs (1989, in collaboration with his son), Alexandre (1989). His book The Natural Cuisine of Georges Blanc (1987) has been published in French, English, German, and Japanese; the French edition won the Grand Prix for culinary books in 1987. In 1991 he wrote La Grand Livre de la Volaille, bringing together his considerable knowledge of the poultry for which the Bresse region is so famous. And yet more books: Au Hasard de la Fourchette (1993), De la Vigne a l´Assiette (1995).

Blanc has been active in the culinary world beyond his own properties. In 1986 he became president of the Comite Interprofessionnel de la Volaille de Bresse. A founding member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Cuisine Francaise, he served as president in 1994. Always an ambassador for Vonnas and his region — and for France — Blanc was chosen by television network TF1 as the personality most representative of the region.

Born in Vienna, Christian Domschitz is back home after working in Liechtenstein and Switzerland. After finishing school, Domschitz went to work at Tourotel Gaflei in Liechtenstein for a year, then completed his military service. Back from service, he went to work at Restaurant Cafe de Paris in Bern, Switzerland, then to the Restaurant Conti and Restaurant Widder. In 1981 he moved to Geneva, where he worked in succession at Auberge du Lion d´Or, Hotel President, Hotel des Bergues, and Restaurant Le Francais. In 1986 he returned to Vienna, working at Fischerhaus, Floriani Stub´n, and Kaiserwalzer. In 1990 he moved to Restaurant Walter Bauer as head chef, where critics praise his creativity and originality. Now he is the chef at Morwald Restaurant in the Hotel Ambassador in Vienna.