“This title is fully deserved. He is of great creativity and incredible energy. His sense of generosity and solidarity is well established.”. Jérôme Bocuse, the son of “Monsieur Paul”, who has been living in the United States for many years, is full of praise for Daniel Boulud.
A chef whom he has known for a very long time, who has become a close friend and even his son’s godfather. A chef of Lyon origin, exiled in the United States for nearly forty years.
A generous and supportive chef
At 66 years old, Daniel Boulud was named the best restaurateur in the world at the start of the week by the association Les Grandes Tables du Monde. This brings together 180 great restaurants across the planet, including the Bocuse, Pic and Marcon establishments in the region. It has been chaired since 2014 by David Sinapian, president of the Pic group, built around the head Anne-Sophie Pic.
“Daniel Boulud alone embodies French gastronomy for many North Americans, even gastronomy at all”, he notes.
“Beyond his remarkable journey over several decades, he has demonstrated, throughout this period of pandemic, exceptional generosity by struggling to find solutions to give work to its employees while helping the poorest “, he says. “Beyond the technique and the talent of the man obviously, we wanted to put forward humility and solidarity”.
Via patrons, the New York chef has indeed organized many charitable events during this period, which not only helped fund charitable works, but also provided work for his teams, hard hit by the pandemic, in a context of countries where social insurance is not the same as in France.
A unanimous greeting by regional chefs
This sense of solidarity, humility and generosity comes up regularly in the comments of all the great chefs in the region. They all know him and see him regularly.
Everyone, from Régis Marcon to Michel Troisgros, including Joseph Viola, Christian Têtedoie and Jérome Bocuse, unanimously appreciate it.
As proof, all of them managed to free up very quickly a few precious minutes in their overloaded agenda to respond to The gallery and say all the good things they thought about their sidekick.
The three-star Roannais Michel Troisgros, who often rubs shoulders with him during charity events organized by Daniel Boulud, still remembers the latter’s commitment when the twin towers collapsed.
“C’etAs extraordinary, he immediately made himself available to the New York firefighters and brought them meals every day. He does all of this without lathering himself, just because he thinks it’s his duty “.
Jérôme Bocuse also recalls this commitment through the creation of the Mentor BKB foundation, which he co-founded with Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller 15 years ago, in order to support the training of young Americans passionate about cooking. At the same time, the New York chef had created another organization to finance access to training, at the Paul Bocuse Institute, for young underprivileged Americans.
An accomplished business leader
Originally from Lyon, with farming parents in Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu (Rhône), Daniel Boulud made his debut in the region, at Nandron in particular, before touring several large houses in France and abroad.
He confides to The gallery :
“I always dreamed of traveling. After being given an opportunity to work in an embassy in Washington, I moved to the United States and discovered New York, which I fell in love with. I wanted to work there somewhere. time, before returning to settle in Lyon. It was my ambition at that time. And then … finally I never came back “, remembers Daniel Boulud, smiling.
And for good reason, the cook is now at the head of a veritable empire of gastronomy, with as head of the line, the two-star New York “Daniel” (he had lost his third star in 2010), but also about twenty ‘establishments (including 14 restaurants) in the United States, Canada, London, Singapore, etc …
In total, his group generates more than 100 million euros in turnover.
And man does not yet seem to be sated with development. While the crisis is not yet behind New York, a city hard hit by Covid-19, it will soon open a new bistro near the World Trade Center, with a new concept.
Its name is not yet fixed but one thing is certain, it will give pride of place to Lyon’s gastronomy. Because if the man has chosen not to cross the Atlantic again, but he has retained many ties to Lyon, and makes a point of promoting the gastronomy of his roots.
Ambassador of Lyon gastronomy
“I have always defended Lyon’s gastronomy. In my restaurants, in my bistros, in the charity events that I organize: the products, the wines etc. The Lyon region is so rich on all these subjects”, s’enthousiasme Daniel Boulud.
If he was not particularly involved in the subject of the City of Gastronomy, dear to the heart of his friend Régis Marcon, he does not miss an opportunity to discuss local gastronomic life with his colleagues, keep abreast of the young rising Lyon generation.
“When he comes to Lyon, he very often organizes tables with chefs. He does not forget his friends, he is a faithful”, recalls Joseph Viola, the owner of several Lyon corks.
Régis Marcon, for his part, points to the support that Daniel Boulud gave 10 years ago to one of his young New York employees, who wanted to return to Lyon to set up his own restaurant. He has since been at the head of the restaurant “Le Suprême”, cours Gambetta in Lyon.
These Lyon friends, these peers, Daniel Boulud also meets them regularly at Sirha and around the Bocuse d’Or since he is involved across the Atlantic in the organization of this unique gastronomic event.
Like Jérôme Bocuse and Régis Marcon, president of the organizing committee, he is also delighted with the selection of the young Naïs Pirollet, 24, who becomes the first woman to represent France in the history of the competition. And, which does not spoil the pleasure of these three Lyon chefs, the young woman also has the merit of being Lyon …
