“The opening of young chefs on the world strikes me”
The great novelty of the 16th season of Top chef, which started at the end of March, is the presence of inspectors of Michelin guide whose anonymity must be preserved. It shouldn’t have been easy …
Indeed. This gave rise to a fairly funny device: modification of traffic on the tray, installation of curtains in the corridors … and tasting in the dark, with only lighting that of their plate!
With this fourth experience as a juror, what are you looking at the candidates?
I am struck by the opening to the world of these young chefs. They are much more so than us, jurors, were at their age.
The atmosphere that inspires you to imagine a recipe?
The tranquility that reigns in the Alpilles, where the restaurant in which I work nestles. A form of poetry is hidden in this preserved nature, sculpted by the winds, mineral and green.
The music that soothes you after a service?
In these moments, to music, I prefer silence.
Your Madeleine de Proust?
The chopped steak of my paternal grandmother. Purchased in the morning from the butcher and prepared at noon, she did not place it in the fridge. A thick steak cooked in a built -in pan, with large hazelnuts of butter. At heart, it was still raw, almost cold.
A place that crosses generations in your family?
The north coast of Brittany. My family memories, shared and renewed, anchor in the Côtes-d’Armor. It was notably through walking on foot that I learned to love the sea.
The solidarity initiative that touches you?
The volunteers who collect, in the rivers, the waste abandoned by others.
The person for whom you experience the most gratitude?
My wife. She reproached me for not calling it the first to announce my third star. If I called my father first, it is because I still had things to prove to him; While she never doubted me.
The person who watches over you?
My mother, Françoise, who left us twenty-five years ago. At times, I feel that she protects me. It seems to me that something bigger than we exist, even if for the moment, I don’t know what. But I want to believe it.
