Paris's Crillon hotel, one of a handful of palatial establishments catering almost exclusively to the very rich and powerful, has a new chef with a big mission - at only 33, Jean-Francois Piege is expected to restore the kitchens to their rightful place as one of the city's best.
For many years an interpreter of the cuisine of multi-Michelin-star Alain Ducasse - in Monaco then in Paris where he worked with him at the Plaza Athenee - Piege will be writing his own score since taking over the Crillon kitchens in mid February.
He was recruited following a drama of considerable proportion, the loss of one of the hotel's two Michelin stars in 2003, stars that the establishment had proudly hung onto over 30 years.
Piege's transfer to the hotel overlooking the riverside Place de la Concorde comes on the heels of the arrival there last September of another Plaza Athenee transfuge, Franka Holtmann of Germany who as new head of the Crillon will be the first woman ever to run such an establishment in Paris.
But the new chef also begins his tenure amid sharp competition that has broken out between the kitchens of the city's top hotels ever since three-star chef Alain Ducasse turned up at the Plaza Athenee in the autumn of 2000.
Four years down the road, the Four-Seasons Georges V hotel too has gained the coveted three-star status, while the Meurice and Bristol each have two stars and the Ritz and the Crillon have one.
The young Piege's mission is a simple one: restore the Crillon to two-star status and win a third.
But he says his primary concern is to keep the customer happy. "The first night a couple who had travelled specially to Paris from the east thanked me warmly. That is worth all the stars," he said in an interview.
A country boy who originally wanted to be a gardener, Piege began his career in the kitchens of the Elysee presidential palace while doing his military service.
In 1994, he joined Ducasse's Louis XV in Monaco, and when the famed chef in 1996 went to Paris to open a second restaurant Piege went too, becoming one of the pillars of the celebrity cook's ever-growing empire.
A fan of cooking books - he has about 3,000 - Piege has a dozen dishes a la carte and three signature creations. "Today gastronomy is difficult because it has become inaccessible. But cuisine should be accessible and should be in line with the times", he said.
His menu is entitled "Histoire de cuisine" (Cuisine story) and has scallops with leeks and vinaigrette (65 euros) or bass with smoked eel and eel stew (80 euros), linking the past with the present, traditional ingredients and contemporary technique.
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