“It’s not easy to get the keys to the Paul Bocuse restaurant, you have to do the job.” At Collonges, two chefs continue to write the legend.

“We’re in the game,” says Olivier Couvin, Paul Bocuse’s house chef with Gilles Reinhardt, as he steps out of Mr. Paul’s office to join the kitchen, which hums as dinner service approaches. This office, which houses the table around which Paul Bocuse and his wife Raymond gathered for Sunday lunch with their close colleagues, is the only room in the famous Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or address that has remained intact. from the date On January 20, 2018, the disappearance of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) blue-white-red collar boss who landed in 1961. However, it seemed that it was not easy to touch this institution, which was marked by a charismatic figure. one who in 1957 took over the helm of the inn established by his grandfathers in 1924.

Tradition and innovation

A man trained by Mother Brazier and Fernand Pointe, who can be considered the first great host of this profession, made this place an international symbol of French gastronomy. The influence consolidated by the three stars he won in 1965 and which would shine for fifty-three years, but also by his restaurants opened in Florida in the 1980s, his corners in Japan, the creation of his international organization in 1987. Cooking competition, Bocuse d’Or… The iconic Élysée soup, sea bass in a crust, russet in potato skins, Bresse poultry in a bladder also make this address an unmissable stop for lovers of large tables. That place could therefore remain in the juice of its specialties. But Mr. Paul did not see it that way. If he was enthroned during his lifetime, he prophetically said: “When I am no longer here, you will prepare your own kitchen, which seems most in harmony with the times and the wishes of the customers.”

And he orchestrated his departure, handing over the reins to his granddaughter’s husband, Vincent Le Roux, who arrived at the company in 2007. forty years home. The trio, supported by a team of seventy, maintain this “beacon” without playing the old-fashioned card. “Tradition in motion, which sums up our work well,” explains Vincen Le Roux. We had to enter a new era, as Paul Bocuse asked us, but without making a revolution. The facade, painted red and green in 1986, then decorated with gilding and drawings in 1993, was therefore similarly renovated; it is in any case classified as a remarkable heritage site. For the well-being of the teams, we redid the kitchens as well as the rooms, keeping the same floor on the first floor. Paul Bocuse asked us to keep it. We have reduced the number of places to eighty, we are closing two days a week.

From the kitchen to the room

The restaurant is celebrating its centenary in style. “2023 was exceptional and the start of 2024 makes us very optimistic,” enthuses Vincen Le Roux. French and food lovers from all over the world gather here. The Paul Bocuse restaurant is a destination.” In these uncertain times, Paul Bocuse’s beacon is one of hope indeed. When the door opens, we immerse ourselves in the unique French art of living. Inside, the ballet is magnificent. The rotating dessert cart between the tables is the star. Pastry chef Benoit Charvet, the 2018 Frozen Desserts World Champion who arrived at Paul Bocuse in 2019, redesigned it and also introduced plated desserts. There are also tables on which we finish cooking, cut, and flambé. The dinner is a spectacle performed by thirty-five people.

“Everyone has a role and perpetuates this service at Bocuse, quality service, but which is not stuffy,” explains hotel manager Maxime Tschirhart. A timeless reception skill that is updated anyway. “I see us as a conservatory of gestures and our recipes, but not primarily as a museum. The museum is stationary. Everything is moving here,” asserts Vincent Le Roux. And young talents are attracted by this approach. When the restaurant industry complains that it can’t recruit, they rush to Colonges. 16-year-old Elena Calzati, who has been homeschooled since August 2022, doesn’t see herself leaving. Passionate, he took and won the competition for the best student in France in October. The team invested and did everything for Elena to win the title. “We release people to prepare for the competition, we order the raw to practice,” adds Maxim Shirhart. There are few houses that put these resources in place.”

A school of high standards

This osmosis between those who knew Paul Bocuse and those who arrived after his death is truly the strength of the former Hotel-Restaurant du Pont. In cooking, the sauce also happens between generations. The explanation? Here, it’s family and a restaurant “like no other,” whispers Gilles Reinhardt. Coming to the commissary house in 1995 because “it was the best”, he left three years later to join Les Crayères in Reims, but returned there in 2000 as sous chef, and in 2015 was appointed executive chef. “It’s not like that. it’s easy to get the keys to the Paul Bocuse restaurant. You have to be in line with it. Mr. Paul had given us his codes, which we try to continue without getting into the routine. So we now change the menu four to five times a year, paying attention to seasonality, whereas before it was completely fixed.” The succession of Olivier Couvin, his colleague, a former paratrooper who went on to rise through the ranks of this demanding school, is not too heavy a weight to carry.

“We continue the story. The cuisine of Paul Bocuse is not the cuisine of a chef, it is the cuisine of a country, a region. It shows the richness of our repertoire. We just need to update what life brings us, our meetings, our travels…” So Pierrelatte frog legs, a cloud-light white pudding appeared on plates, and French fishing at Fernand Point. the sole fillet was perfected after five years of trial and error. The loss of the third star in 2020 was still shocking, sending Gilles Reinhardt into a deep depression. “It was a terrible message, as if nothing was possible after the death of Paul Bocuse.” Four years later, morale is back, and the entire staff vibrates with a frenzied energy, driven by one ambition: to make the next hundred years as beautiful as the first hundred.

Restaurant Paul Bocuse, 40, rue de la Plage, 69660 Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or