Go Back
Print this page

Chefs + Restaurants

Alexander Lobrano Alexander Lobrano

Big Weekend—With the World's Top Chefs

02.13.07

Alain Ducasse cooked up quite a gratin in honor of Paul Bocuse this past weekend in Monte Carlo, part of a three-day homage to the 81-year-old master dubbed "Le Feu Sacre," and almost 100 chefs turned up—including Daniel Boulud, Charlie Trotter, Ferran Adria, Jacques Chibois, Alain Senderens, Juan Marie Arzak, Georges Blanc, and Tetsuya Wakuda. The highlight of the event was a buffet lunch in which each of 19 chefs prepared one of their specialties.

chefs
Discussing his long career, Bocuse said: "When I began, France ruled the world. Today, however, they make great wines all over the world, and great cooking always follows great wines." He also said, "Japanese cooking has completely changed the world. Their obsession with clarity and purity of taste has become the compass of modern cooking." He used the occasion to announce the launch of his French Rapid Food project, a high-end sandwich and salad restaurant that will open in a suburb of Lyon at the end of May.

For his part, Ducasse defended the primacy of French cooking, saying, "Our cuisine is still there. Even if the world now draws its inspiration from other regions, the technique and professionalism of any great chef is still descended from the French tradition." He also announced several new projects, including a restaurant at London's Dorchester Hotel to open in September and the takeover and relaunch of Rech, a famous 1925-vintage seafood bistro in Paris. Ducasse's revamp of the Restaurant Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower is slated for October.

Keywords
alexander lobrano,
chefs,
europe