Taillevent, 80 years of gastronomic excellence

Founded in 1946 by André Vrinat, the great Parisian restaurant on rue Lamennais is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. The opportunity to go back over the thread of a table that has not only crossed French gastronomic history, but has sometimes made it: three stars for 34 years, a service that has become legendary, chefs passed into posterity, a tie required until the 1980s, a Japanese castle, a detour by Pixar and an entire generation of elders who continue to make the Taillevent school shine. Since 2021, it is the Italian Giuliano Sperandio who writes the continuation of the story of Taillevent with the delicate mission to make an institution live without mummifying it.

The golden age of the Michelin three-stared restaurants

In 1973, Taillevent won its third Michelin star under the leadership of chef Claude Deligne. The distinction will remain attached to the house for more than 30 years, crossing times and kitchens of Philippe Legendre, Michel del Burgo then Alain Solivérès. From Deligne, the gastronomic critics of the time retained the saddle of lamb Herriot with morels and truffle juice. Philippe Legendre will leave, him, the memory of more identified dishes, like the boudin of Breton lobster, the pigeon pie and foie gras or the vacherin with seasonal fruits. As for Michel del Burgo, he will impose a more solar cuisine, including some recipes, such as the smoked eel in lukewarm marriage of ratte apple, caviar osciètre and condiment with horseradish.

Tie or die

At Taillevent, chic has long had its rules. It was, it is said, the only restaurant where Serge Gainsbourg agreed to put a tie - the knot in the middle of the chest, it is true. In 1983, in Le Monde, Jean-Claude Vrinat still assumed a certain firmness towards customers in jackets or shirt sleeves: "I am intraitable," he said, while noting that the less disciplined were sometimes... from colleagues. The tie has since disappeared from the list of obligations, but the idea of a French-style club remains. In 1990, still in Le Monde, Vrinat even explained limiting the evening foreign clientele to 30%, convinced that the Americans, many, did not only come looking for a large table, but also "a certain French atmosphere".

Japanese castle

In the early 1990s, Jean-Claude Vrinat was approached by Sapporo, the second largest Japanese brewer, to imagine an exceptional French restaurant in the Japanese capital. The project has something delirious: in the heart of a huge luxury complex, investors dream of installing a three-star Michelin restaurant in a French castle, first bought in Poitou, then finally rebuilt on site after the veto of the Ministry of Culture. There is no question, for Vrinat, of moving Taillevent himself to Tokyo. But the man agrees to collaborate and calls Joël Robuchon, another Parisian monument already famous in Japan. From this adventure was born the Château-Restaurant Taillevent-Robuchon in Tokyo. Later, Taillevent will also look closer, in Europe, with Les 110 de Taillevent in London, opened in 2015 and still active at Cavendish Square.

Two stars and an injury

In 2007, the Michelin downgraded Tailent to two stars. For Jean-Claude Vrinat, after 34 years at the highest level, downgrading is an injury. He answers it on his blog, with elegance and irony, in an "Open Letter to Mr. Naret", then director of the guide: "After having been triple starred for thirty-four years, here I am simply... Double Michelin-starred. I could have, you might say, only benefited from a Bib Gourmand.” Before we wonder, not without malice, that he is offered to buy a vintage sign: even if it means contributing financially, he writes in substance, could he not acquire the one from 2006, "the year when Taillevent still had three stars"?

Pixar goes to the table

The same year, Ratatouille was released in a cinema and Taillevent entered, in his own way, into the global imagination of Parisian gastronomy. In the room of Chez Gusteau, the large restaurant where Rémy dreams to cook, we find elements inspired by several French institutions, including Taillevent. The Pixar teams would have drawn on the working atmosphere of the house to imagine their Michelin-starred restaurant. The former director of the establishment, Jean-Marie Ancher, even lent his voice for the English version of the film, having instructed him not to erase his French accent.

Taillevent's school

Taillevent has not only formed brigades: the house has also spread part of the current French gastronomic scene. Among its alumni, several have earned one or more stars, such as David Bizet, now at L'Oiseau Blanc, at the Peninsula Paris, two Michelin stars, Ryunosuke Naito at Pertinence, Jean-François Rouquette at Pur’ at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, or Thibaut Spiwack at Anona, all distinguished by a Michelin star. Others have built houses that are highly praised by the profession, from Émile Cotte at Bacha'v (Boulogne-Billancourt) to Hugues Mbenda at Kin in Marseille, passing through Didier Clément at the Grand Hôtel du Lion d'Or (Sologne), Camille Saint-M'Leux at Geoélia, and Tomy Gousset at Tomy & Co in Paris, or Hugues Pouget, who switched to the sweet side with his Parisian pastry shop after the Hugo & Victor adventure.