| Award-Winning Chef / Owner | |
|---|---|
| Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest from The James Beard Foundation (1998) | |
| Chevalier de l’Ordre Du Mérite Agricole from The French Government (2004) | |
| Restaurants | |
| Rover's Restaurant | |
| Luc Restaurant | |
| TV / Radio Personality | |
| Contestant on Top Chef Masters: Season 2 | |
| Former Co-Host of “In The Kitchen with Tom and Thierry” with Chef Tom Douglas | |
| www.thechefinthehat.com |
Thierry Rautureau, nicknamed The Chef In The Hat, is the chef/owner of Rover's and Luc Restaurants in Seattle, Washington. Rautureau was born in the Muscadet region of France, apprenticed in Anjou, France, and at twenty moved to the United States to work at several fine restaurants. He became the chef/owner of Rover's Restaurant in 1987 and since has won various awards including the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest in 1998, and has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre Du Mérite Agricole by the French government. In 2010, Rautureau opened Luc, a French-American café and bar. He has cooked for such well-known figures as Hillary Clinton, Francis Ford Coppola, Jackson Browne, and Julia Child.
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Thierry Rautureau hails from the town of Saint Hilaire de Clisson in the Muscadet region of France. His parents were farmers in a small agricultural community where the cows and chickens outnumbered the people. The family cooked only what they grew, thus providing a purely seasonal diet. As the oldest child, Rautureau was given the chore of doing the prep for dinner; and as such he quickly became acquainted with fresh homegrown ingredients at a young age.[1]
At fourteen, Rautureau started a cooking apprenticeship in Anjou, France and at sixteen went on a Regional Tour de France and trained in the cities of Le Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, Chamonix in the French Alps, and Hendaye in the Pays Basque. At twenty, after six years of traditional French training, Rautureau headed for the United States and took his professional experience to La Fontaine with Jean Claude Poilevey in Chicago. After three years in Chicago, Rautureau moved to Los Angeles where he worked at the Regency Club with Joachim Splichal, and then The Seventh Street Bistro with Laurent Quenioux.[1]
While visiting Seattle in 1987, Rautureau dined at Rover’s and discovered that the restaurant was up for sale. He decided to buy the restaurant so that he could express his culinary creativity as the chef/owner while enjoying the Pacific Northwest.
Rautureau says of his cooking philosophy: “it starts with freshness and continues with treating all ingredients with attention.” He identifies the cuisine at Rover’s as “Northwest contemporary with a French accent.” His cuisine also contains Mediterranean overtones and various Asian elements. Overall his cuisine is aligned with the philosophy of "food as art".[1]
In 2010, Rautureau opened Luc, a casual French-American café and bar named after the his late father, Luc Rautureau.[2] Being primarily local, seasonal and sustainable, Luc’s food is heavily influenced by the French comfort food Rautureau grew up eating on his parents’ farm.[1]
In order to raise money to open Luc, the established chef pre-sold gift certificates. Interested parties were offered three gift certificates valued at $435, which could be used over the course of three years for $1,000. The names of these "Founding Diners" are now featured in Luc on bronze plaques.[3]
The two paintings in the dining room are both artistic interpretations of old Rautureau family photographs, one of Rautureau as a boy and another of his parents as a young couple, which were rendered by a Seattle-based French artist named Isa Darleans.[3]
Since Rautureau opened Rover's in 1987, the restaurant and chef have received local and national press recognition. Articles have appeared in such publications as Time Magazine, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, The Wine Spectator, Food Arts, Vancouver Magazine, Seattle Magazine,[4] the New York Times, Sunset, USA Today, Seattle Times’ Pacific Magazine, the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Fortune, Business Week, and Art Culinaire. He has also been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre Du Mérite Agricole by the French Government and the award for The Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest by the James Beard Foundation.[5]
In addition, pieces about Luc have been printed in several publications including Seattle Magazine,[6] Seattle Metropolitan,[7] and the Seattle Weekly.[8]
From 2003 to 2010, Rautureau was the co-host of the talk radio show “In The Kitchen with Tom and Thierry” with fellow chef Tom Douglas on KIRO 97.3FM.[10] The two chefs conducted interviews with people in the food world, recounted recipes, gave a wine of the week and discussed food in the news.
On television, Rautureau was featured on the Food Network's“Dining Around” [11] and “Ready, Set, Cook!," Ming Tsai's “Simply Ming,” [12] the PBS Series “French Fest," [13] and the Discovery Channel series “ Great Chefs from the Great Cities." [14] Rautureau has also been a celebrity chef judge for the PBS series “MasterChef USA." [15]
Rautureau's most well-known television appearance is as a contestant on the second season of the Bravo reality series Top Chef Masters.[16] Rautureau competed against Monica Pope (T'afia), Carmen González (Chef Consultant), David Burke (David Burke Townhouse), and the eventual winner of the season, Marcus Samuelsson (Red Rooster, Aquavit) in the second episode entitled "Top Chef Masters Season 2: It's My Party." [17] The challenge for the chefs was to cook a meal inspired by soul food for actor Mekhi Phifer's birthday party.[17] González and Samuelsson advanced, while Pope, Rautureau and Burke were eliminated.[17]
Rautureau is on the Board of Directors for Food Lifeline,[18] a Western Washington non-profit that provides food to 675,000 people through food banks, hot meal programs, shelters, and more.[19] Rautureau also participates in various other community and charity events and fundraisers, such as the opening of the Dale Turner YMCA in Shoreline, WA.[20]
Rautureau is married to Kathleen Encell-Rautureau, a floral designer who also does arrangements for the restaurants. She was also the impetus for the chef's nickname. It was Kathy who gave Rautureau a fedora for Christmas, which he wore almost unceasingly. One evening, Rautureau entered the dining room at Rover's to speak with a guest without removing his hat. The guest exclaimed: “Look, it’s the Chef in the Hat!." Other guests overheard the comment, and the phrase eventually became his nickname.[21]