Welcome to Restaurant Empires, in which Eater maps out the businesses of prominent chefs and restaurateurs.
In the last fifteen years, since debuting his now-legendary restaurant on Paris' rue Balzac, Pierre Gagnaire has opened projects across the globe, slowly and quietly joining the ranks of Alain Ducasse and Joël Robuchon as one of the premiere French empire builders.
What makes this case all the more compelling is that a chef known, celebrated, and often criticized for being all over the place — he's been called a wizard, "the Matisse of chefs" — has managed to enjoy relatively long-lasting successes in Paris, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Seoul, Moscow, Saint Tropez, Dubai, and Courchevel. His Paris flagship is marked by an undeniably personal, authorial kind of cooking anchored in classic technique, where each course is often composed of various dishes and flights, and there is a focus on bold juxtapositions of flavor; folks who use the word would say that he's one of the first practitioners of "molecular" gastronomy.
But most of his restaurants outside of Paris have benefited from a certain but not complete toning down of that risk-taking. Instead, they tend to favor interiors that share many of the same luxe, casino restaurant qualities and menus that scale back the tasting menu emphasis and show an interest in local ingredients — a Sonoma squab in Vegas, some sliced hurro and Jeju langoustines in Seoul, for instance.
Early next year, Gagnaire will open what he claims to be his final restaurant, a project inside the Waldorf-Astoria in Berlin. In a recent interview, he commented on the decision: “I think this is the end because it’s difficult to find enough time. It’s important not just to achieve a certain standard, but to create a place where you feel the heart of the owner. It’s my mission and for that I need time to understand the city and also the building. If I open a new place I think perhaps I’ll close places.”
For biographical information on Gagnaire and a detailed account of a meal at his restaurant, see Food Snob.
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