Alain Passard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alain Passard (born August 4, 1956 at La Guerche in Brittany, France) is a French chef and owner of the three star restaurant L'Arpège, located in Paris.
[edit] History
Passard began his culinary career in 1971 at the age of 14 working at Hôtellerie du Lion d'Or in Liffré under Michel Kerever. From 1976 to 1977 Passard worked at La Chaumiere in Reims under Gaston Boyer. From 1980 to 1984 Passard worked at Le Duc d'Enghien, at the Casino of Enghien, during which time, at the age of 26, he became the youngest two star chef.
In 1984, Passard moved to the Restaurant Carlton, Brussels, Belgium and within two years the restaurant earned two stars from the Michelin Dining Guide.
In 1986, Passard purchased the three star restaurant L'Archestrate from his former mentor Alain Senderens and renamed it L'Arpège. It took only a single year to earn its first star, then one year more to earn its second. In 1996, L'Arpège earned its third star from the Michelin Dining Guide, which it has retained ever since.
In 2001, Passard completely removed red meat from his menu and turned the focus of his efforts to vegetables, stating "I believe I have come far in the areas of poultry and meat based cuisine. Today I aspire to another exploration based in vegetables. I voluntarily erase, without regret, twelve signature dishes of the house with real reassessment. I sense a fabulous adventure in exploring the depths of my passion."
In September of 2002 Passard opened his kitchen garden, a 2 hectare parcel of land run by two gardeners approximately 230 kilometers from Paris, in the French countryside. The vegetables are grown completely organically and even the use of machines is forbidden. The only help the gardeners receive during harvest is the use of a draught horse to help till the soil.
Passard received a measure of international notoriety by participating as a challenger on the wildly popular Japanese show Iron Chef. He first appeared in the 1997 World Cup held in Arashiyama, a district in the Kyoto prefecture of Japan.
Passard defeated Parick Clark in the first round in Battle Homard Lobster to earn the right to battle Iron Chef Japanese Koumei Nakamura, who had defeated Liu Xikun in his first round match, the theme ingredient being beef.
In the final, with foie gras being the theme ingredient, giving the French chef a decided advantage over his Japanese counterpart, the two tied, both being honored as World Cup champions. This was before an overtime period had been instituted in the case of a tie.
In the last match held in Kitchen Stadium, in September of 1999, the "King of Iron Chefs" tournament was held with all of the current Iron Chefs battling each other for the right to battle Passard in the final. In first round matches Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi defeated Iron Chef Italian Masahiko Kobe in a pork battle and Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai defeated Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto in a bell pepper battle. In the semi-final match Sakai defeated Chen in Battle Homard Lobster for the right to take on Passard.
With all the current Iron Chefs, as well as the former Iron Chefs(Iron Chef French I Yutaka Ishinabe, Iron Chef Japanese I Rokusaburo Michiba and Iron Chef Japanese II Koumei Nakamura) looking on, Passard and Sakai battled each other with the theme ingedient being Ronkonkai Chicken, a special type of chicken raised in Jiangsu, China.
Sakai defeated Passard in the final match to be named "King of Iron Chefs". Still, it was a great honor for Passard to be named as the ultimate test for the Iron Chefs, so much so that even in defeat his Ronkonkai Chicken à la Dragee, a dish in which he slowly cooked the chicken for 40 minutes then covered it with minced Dragee (almonds covered with a hard sugar glaze), was named one of the 10 best dishes ever created in Kitchen Stadium.
The son of musicians, Passard is also passionate about music, playing the saxophone. He recently released his first book, "Les Recettes des Drôles de Petites Bêtes", a recipe book written especially for children. He is also a partner in a company that produces mustard using a 16th century recipe and has worked with silversmiths Christofle on a set of flatware made especially for eating vegetables.
