Chef Michel Troisgros: Simplicity And Refinement, Part 1

This is the first in a three-part interview with chef Michel Troisgros. You can find the second here, and the third here.

Michel Troisgros, the famed French chef, represents the third generation of the celebrated culinary family holding court since 1930 at La Maison Troisgros in the small town of Roanne, west of Lyon. The present patriarch of the family now accompanied by his two sons, Cesar and Leo, is carrying forth the family tradition and name not only in his operations in France but also overseas. Michel's grandparents, Jean Baptiste and his wife Marie, could not have envisioned when they relocated from Burgundy and opened the doors to their small Hotel-Restaurant des Platanes across from the town's train station that three more generations would follow in their footsteps. Their two sons, Jean and Pierre, grew up in the small family business and then in their teens set off to train in some of the best kitchens in Paris, Normandy, and the Basque region. After acquiring their certification (CAP) they joined the kitchen of the acclaimed Parisian restaurant Lucas Corton.

By a happy coincidence, living legend Paul Bocuse was in the same kitchen and there began a friendship that has influenced French gastronomy over the ensuing decades. The two brothers then returned to train with Ferdinand Point and Paul Mercier at La Pyramide in Vienne before heading back to Paris to Maxim's and the Hotel de Crillon, before family duty brought them home to Roanne. The family hostelry, which had been renamed Hotel Moderne, very soon began to be known as les Freres Troisgros where the brothers put their skills to work in the kitchen while their father took care of the dining room.

The first Michelin star came in 1955, the second in 1965, and the third in 1968, and they have been retained since. Pierre's delectable iconic salmon in sorrel sauce, which is believed to have earned the second star, is still the iconic dish of the house. The forward-thinking Pierre Troisgros was one of the first French chefs of his time to venture into the Japanese markets where he opened several boutiques in Tokyo in 1980. 

Tragedy struck with the passing away of his brother Jean in 1983, and Pierre needed his oldest son Michel by his side to continue the family legacy. Michel Troisgros accompanied by his wife Anne-Marie was then following the footsteps of his father and uncle by traveling and training in restaurants in France and beyond. Michel and Anne-Marie's love story began at school in Lycée Technique Hotelier in Grenoble when he was just sixteen and led to a life together pursuing a mutual passion. They then settled in Roanne upon their return to raise their three children while working to modernize and expand the family business by refurbishing the Relais & Chateau listed restaurant and hotel.

First they added the "Le Central" annex to serve traditional bistro cuisine while Michel added an international flair to the formal restaurant. In 2001 they opened Le Koumir in Moscow and in 2004 ventured into Paris with the Table du Lancaster, no longer associated with them. 2006 brought "La Colline du Colombier" outside of Roanne, and in the same year the eponymous Michel Troisgros restaurant opened its doors at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. The couple's travels took them to London, Brussels, New York, Tokyo, and San Francisco among other cities, and Michel trained with the likes of Alain Chapel, Roger Verge, Michel Gerard, Michel Bourdain, and Alice Waters. Wife Anne- Marie worked in various hotels brought their international flair to the family operations. In 1993 Michel took over the reins of the kitchen from Pierre, bringing his minimalistic flair and trademark use of acidity to enhance the flavors of his compositions. Awards such as the Gault-Millau Chef de l'Annee in 2003, and the Legion d'Honneur in 2004, followed.

At Maison Troisgros, the kitchen windows overlook to lush gardens, enabling hotel and restaurant guests to watch the orchestrated ballet in the kitchen as Michel and his two sons create their magic. The operation is slated to move to its new home just a few kilometers away in the neighboring countryside in 2016. Marie-Pierre, the decorator and designer, will once again work her magic to create the perfect backdrop to her husband and sons creations. The kitchen famously utilizes the region's bounty, benefitting from the family's long association with producers and wine makers in the region. The famed wine cellars hold over 40,000 bottles for the pleasure of oenophiles. Longstanding fans of the house may rest assured the signature l'escalope de saumon a l'oseille will still be served at the new location, being one of the classics of nouvelle cuisine first created in the Troisgros kitchens in 1962.

Michel's brother, Claude Troisgros, whose L'Olympe restaurant is named after their Italian mother, has established himself in Rio de Janeiro where he owns three other restaurants having also ventured into New York and more successfully into Miami. Jean Troisgros's son George, following family tradition, is a well-known chef in New York City. Many celebrated chefs have trained in the famed kitchens over the years including Bernard Loiseau, Guy Savoy, Judy Rodgers, Traci Des Jardins, Elena Arzak, Pascal Barbot, Andre Chiang, David Burke, and many more. Michel's older son Cesar followed in his father's footsteps, training in the French Laundry kitchens under Chef Thomas Keller, and both father and son happily share anecdotes about their California experiences. He has also authored several cookbooks including his popular "La cuisine acidulée".

We sat down one morning with the articulate and affable Michel Troisgros in the chic grey-toned sitting room of Maison Troisgros for a very interesting and enlightening conversation. It is not only his cuisine that speaks, as the well-read and informed chef is open to conversations about many varied subjects. We took a trip down memory lane with him to the Chez Panisse days, and he shared both the excitement and apprehensions of the future and the upcoming move to new quarters and working side by side with his sons.

The Daily Meal: You spent time in Chez Panisse kitchens in your early years. What were your first impressions of California?
Chef Michel Troisgros:
In 1977 I went to work there but the first time I visited California was for a special dinner at the Mondavi Winery with my uncle Jean who was at that time a star of nouvelle cuisine Francaise .It was the era when French chefs were stars around the world. I had started cooking at seventeen and to get an opportunity to go to California was like a dream for anyone my age. I was a fan of rock n roll and many American singers. I spent a week in San Francisco and Napa Valley with my uncle and on our way back we stopped at Chez Panisse for a meal. That was the first time I met Alice Waters. I was impressed by the sensitivity  of the place and at that time the idea of living and working there was very appealing as it as such a contrast to the place where I had grown up.

What was so different?
I had by that time worked with Japanese chefs, with Alain Chapel, Roger Verge, Frédy Girardet, and also worked at Taillevent. I was nineteen when I went to California and found their way of working, of considering the staff, the social connections between the people, the cuisine, being yourself, and being in the presence of a charismatic chef, going to the markets with Mark Miller, who was the chef at that time, very appealing. We very quickly became good friends and since he was in charge of the market I got to learn about the produce. In 1978 Alice was already very well-known and some very unusual people were cooking in her kitchen. Another difference was that as opposed to France where we have a colony of producers and longstanding connections, this system did not exist in California. I felt that in a new place far away from my home with new people, new language, new culture, that time of my life gave me a real sense of what liberty is and what being yourself is. California is a melting pot and I met people from many different parts of the world. The diversity gives you the opportunity to explore other cultures like Chinese, Italian, American, etc. and so it was a very enriching experience for me.

Who else was in the kitchen at Chez Panisse besides Mark Miller?
It was a dream team with Jeremiah Towers, Judy Rodgers, Jean-Pierre Moulle and a fabulous pastry chef who has since passed away. The atmosphere was beautiful and Alice though not really cooking was providing a good spirit to the place, being very open to everyone, traveling, writing, thinking about what could be done to make it the best place for everyone. Prior to that experience I was a chef but with my hands and not with my mind and that was where I learnt to work with both. Talking about the cuisine I still remember a caramelized almond tart which was baked a very long time in a slow oven, resulting in something so delicious that I got a piece of it twice a day because I loved it. That dream tart is my favorite memory of Chez Panisse!

This is the first in a three-part interview with chef Michel Troisgros. You can find the second here, and the third here.