The cutlet enthusiast
Pierre Gagnaire excels through occasionalexcesses and has so far collected twelveMichelin Stars.
He loves food and he loves jazz, and he is very happy to talk about both.The listener, therefore, can easily forget what topic Pierre Gagnaire isaddressing at any given moment. The 63-year-old Frenchman talksabout the temptation of always trying out new things, improvising moreand more openly, and the fear of becoming entangled in scheme and beingunable to break from it. This is his greatest fear, he recently revealed. The starParisian chef, with 12 Michelin Stars, says: “If you ask me, a man should eatout of the ordinary. Products that he knows, but has never experienced insuch a way before”. That is the approach of the Frenchman with the oftentousledred-blond hair and bright blue eyes. That is also why he accepts thefact that he might overshoot the mark with the exuberance of his emotions.He admits occasional excesses. But, is this a reason to repeat proven dishes?Never. It has to be new, both culinary and geographically. He cannot reallysay who and what inspires him: “There is something, but I cannot explain it.Inspiration is there, but inexplicable”
His cuisine reflects his life, his feelings and his experiences and thereby produces uniqueculinary compositions, all of which bear his signature and please the eye and the palate.Pierre Gagnaire, improvises and plays with dishes and ingredients like a composerand his “Opus” is full of contrasts, surprises and counterpoints. Gagnaire has also beencooking in Berlin since January this year. He developed a concept for the restaurant “LesSolistes” in the Waldorf Astoria and is also at the stove several times a year.Gagnaires cuisine-concept is unique, he mixes and combines so much that evengastro critics are sometimes speechless. Scallops are here combined with turnip,Korean kimchi newly-interpreted with French cuisine know-how.
The quality of his individual ingredients is quite remarkable, however his artful dishesas a whole are what amazed the recognized German restaurant critic, Jürgen Dollase. Gagnaire’s concentrated flavors were, even for him, on the edge of what he couldhandle. A cuisine that polarizes – and delights-experts. Pierre Gagnaire is repeatedlyawarded with three stars, Gault Millau awarded him 19 out of 20 points. The Berlinstar-chef Christian Lohse together with the three star and chef Christian Bau fromRheinland-Palatinate, count Gagnaire’s Parisian restaurant “Pierre Gagnaire” amongtheir favorite restaurants in the world.He is very close to the pulse of gastronomy globally: “Gastronomy is currently intransition. It is constantly creating new things. Previously, attention was focusedexclusively on French cuisine. This is no longer the case. Some very interesting newtrends are emerging in Asia. But I do not like concepts and definitions, because theykeep me from...
