Michel Guérard, the celebrated French chef, passed away on Monday August 19, 2024 at the age of 91. Born in 1933 in Vétheuil into a family of butchers and breeders, Michel Guérard was one of the founders of the Nouvelle Cuisine movement, initiated in the 1970s, which aimed to transform and modernize French gastronomy by emphasizing lightness, simplicity and the freshness of choice ingredients.
Michel Guérard had worked in many prestigious restaurants throughout his career, notably at the Crillon, where he was pastry chef and then saucier chef, but also at the Lido, before winning the Meilleur Ouvrier de France pastry competition.
After opening his first restaurant, Pot-au-Feu, in 1965, which quickly became a landmark of Parisian and then international gastronomy (the chef was awarded a first, second and third star in 1967, 1971 and 1977 respectively), he opened what was to become the restaurant of his life, Les Prés d'Eugénie in the spa village of Eugénie-les-Bains.
Some of the greatest chefs of their time have worked here, includingAlain Ducasse, Michel Troisgros, Gérald Passédat, Sébastien Bras, Daniel Boulud, Arnaud Donckele, Arnaud Lallement and Christopher Coutanceau. Some of Chef Guérard 's most memorable dishes include his lobster à la cheminée, his boeuf sur le bois et sous les feuilles and, of course, his salade gourmande, in which he combines vinegar and foie gras for the first time.
