Paul Bocuse centenary brings 350 diners to a Roman temple
Patrick Henriroux and Philippe Girardon led 30 chefs and 60 students in a €95 lunch that sold out in two days, in the town where Bocuse learned under Fernand Point.
The Paul Bocuse centenary reached Vienne on 24 September, when about 30 chefs, cooks and maîtres d'hôtel served lunch to 350 guests around the Roman Temple of Augustus and Livia. The event, called Le Temple des Chefs, was led by Patrick Henriroux of two-star La Pyramide and Philippe Girardon of one-star Domaine de Clairefontaine.
Seats cost €95 and sold out within 48 hours, France 3 reported; the local site Vivre Villes counted a waiting list of around 700 people. The organisers were the Agora des Chefs, a group that Henriroux, Girardon and three other local chefs founded in 2012, working with Maison Bocuse, according to Magazine Exquis.
Bocuse was born in 1926 and died in 2018. For the city he made famous, a short drive up the Rhône, our guide to what to eat in Lyon covers the bouchons and the markets.
Before Bocuse became a monument, he was an apprentice in Vienne.
How the Paul Bocuse centenary lunch was cooked
The menu stayed secret until guests sat down. France 3 listed a tomato starter with a Condrieu emulsion, Arctic char, beef, hare à la royale with a Côte-Rôtie sauce, fresh goat's cheese with Chartreuse jelly and a chocolate dessert. The wines stayed local: Condrieu, Côte-Rôtie, Seyssuel and a sparkling Saint-Péray for the aperitif.
About 60 students from hotel and sommelier schools in Vienne, Voiron and Tain-l'Hermitage worked the tables and the wine service, Mesinfos reported. That was the point of the day as much as the food. "In life, we are only transmitters," Henriroux told France 3.
Why Vienne, not Lyon
The choice of town was not sentimental. Bocuse served his apprenticeship at La Pyramide in the 1950s under Fernand Point, who took over the family restaurant in 1925 and won three Michelin stars in 1933, in the guide's first promotion. After Point's death in 1955, his widow Mado kept the three stars until she died in 1986. Henriroux arrived in 1989 and had two stars back by 1992.
Lyon has its own plans for the anniversary. In June, former Élysée chef Guillaume Gomez said he would ask President Emmanuel Macron to consider Bocuse for the Panthéon, a process he puts at two to three years. Vienne's case was simpler and cheaper: before the monument, there was the apprentice.
Sources
- France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes — « C'est impressionnant » : un repas gastronomique rend hommage à Paul Bocuse et Fernand Point ·
- Mesinfos / Essor Isère — Vienne : un menu étoilé pour célébrer Paul Bocuse ·
- Vivre Villes — 350 convives demain pour le « Temple des chefs » à Vienne ·
- Magazine Exquis — Le Temple des Chefs à Vienne : hommage à Paul Bocuse ·
- Le Bonbon Lyon — Paul Bocuse bientôt au Panthéon ? ·
