Chef Michel Guérard in his famous restaurant Les Prés d’Eugénie. Credits: Anne-Claire Heraud
Marie Costa, mayor of Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, paid tribute to the three-star chef Michel Guérard, who passed away on Monday, August 19. Born on March 27, 1933 in Seine-et-Oise, to a family of butchers and farmers and owner, in the spa resort of Eugénie-les-Bains, of the prestigious hotel-restaurant Les prés d’Eugénie in the Landes since 1974, Michel Guérard remains one of the great pillars of French thermalism and the development of the town of Amélie-les-Bains. Married to Christine Barthélemy, daughter of Adrien Barthélemy, founder of the Thermale du Soleil chain, Michel Guérard took over the management of the group with his wife in 2001, then passed it on to their daughters. First a pastry chef, then a master saucier and Meilleur Ouvrier de France, Michel Guérard received his first Michelin star in 1967 for his concept of nouvelle cuisine, of which he was the pioneer. Refined dishes prepared with local products, mainly from organic farming. A high-quality, healthy cuisine that would make him famous. Three years later, he was awarded three stars and, in 2019, entered the Gault et Millau Toques d’Or academy. From his difficult childhood during the harsh war years, which led him to experience hunger, he retained a sharp lucidity on the ephemeral nature of things and the cardinal value of work, without however departing from a mischievous, almost mischievous approach. For 47 years, he boldly retained, from one establishment to another, his three Michelin stars and his status as a star, a pioneer of an elegant new cuisine, combining slimness and voluptuousness, perceived throughout the world. His wife, Christine, loved Amélie-les-Bains very much, grasping its soul and potential, supporting the significant investments of the Chaîne Thermale du Soleil in our town of Amélie-les-Bains, but also of the 5 thermal spas of the Pyrénées Orientales (Le Boulou, La Preste, Molitg, Amélie-les-Bains), and thus contributing to their development. Jean-Victor Herete, first deputy of the town of Amélie-les-Bains, very touched by this disappearance, evokes “the elegance of the great chef” and his wife Christine. “Delightful beings, of great intelligence who came regularly to Amélie”where Michel Guérard had created two establishments: the hotel-restaurant La Pinède and Le Roussillon, in which he had placed two chefs trained in his cuisine. Michel Guérard was the oldest three-star Michelin chef in France.
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