Which young chefs are the rising stars in France?

publication date: Oct 21, 2008

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author/source: Fiona Beckett

Gault Millau has identified 22 ‘jeunes talents’, which it defines as chefs under 32, in its 2009 restaurant guide, which is published this week.

I haven't had time to check out which départements the towns listed are in (the numbers are in brackets) but here's the list:

Thomas Berry - La Cuiller à Pot, Strasbourg (67)
Patxi Massonde - La Maison Oppoca, Ainhoa (64)
Rodolphe Regnauld - Auberge du Pont, Pont-du-Château (63)
Frédéric Doucet - Restaurant Frédéric Doucet, Charolles (71)
Mathieu Aumont - Aux Pesked, Saint-Brieuc (22)
Amandine Gachet - Aux Marais, Plaimpied-Givaudins (18)
Brice Buffet - Les Echevins, Mouzon (08)
Laurent Michel - La Fleur de Sel, Pinarello (20), Sainte-Lucie-de-Porto Vecchio
Marc Tupin - Hostellerie Saint-Germain, Saint-Germain-les-Arlay (39)
Bertrand Grébaut - L'Agape, Paris XVIIe
Mathieu de Lauzun - Restaurant de Lauzun, Gignac (34) (This is our nearest rising star down in the Languedoc!)
Sébastien Proux - Château de la Cazine, Noth (23)
Jean-Christophe Cordel - Le Bistrot Saint-Jean, Bar-le-Duc (55)
Romain Brard - Le Genty Magre, Toulouse (31)
David Bève - N'Autre Monde, Lille (59)
Christophe Barjettas - La Malle aux Épices, Auderville (50)
Christophe Poirier - La Licorne Royale, Lyons-la-Forêt (27)
Alexandre Arnaud - La Forge, Saint-Georges-Buttavent (53)
Richard Baima - Le Julianon, Senlis (60)
Xavier Taffart - L'Aquarelle, Breuillet (17)
Gilles Pradines - L'Espérance, Bandol (83)
Yoann Conte - Les Jardins du Mont-Blanc, Chamonix (74)
It’s interesting to see yet another accolade for a restaurant in Toulouse which is becoming quite a foodie destination

Gault Millau also identified six ‘grands de demain’ (tomorrow’s greats):
Alsace
Pascal Bastian 16/20 Auberge du Cheval Blanc - 4 rue de Wissembourg, Lembach.
Languedoc-Roussillon
Fabien Lefebvre 15/20 Octopus - 12 rue Boïeldieu, Béziers.
Midi-Pyrénées
Patrice Gelbart 15/20 Aux Berges du Cérou - rue du Pont, Salles.
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Geoffrey Poesson 15/20 La Badiane - 6 rue Fernand-Bessy, Sainte-Maxime.
Rhône-Alpes
Laurent Rigal 15/20 L'Alexandrin - 83 rue Moncey, Lyon.
Stéphane Froidevaux 15/20 Fantin Latour - 1 rue Général-de-Beylié, Grenoble.
(From our point of view, it’s interesting that Gault-Millau singles out Octopus which we haven't previously rate as highly as our neighbouring O Bontemps at Magalas. But we’re quite relieved as it’s already near-impossible to get a table at the latter!)

The restaurants which have risen in the rankings this year are Le Château de la Chèvre d'Or at Eze-Village and L'Auberge du Vieux Puits à Fontjoncouse which both now have four toques and 19/20; L'Hostellerie de Plaisance at Saint-Émilion goes up to 18/20 and there are five new restaurants at 17/20:
L'Espadon, Paris Ier,
Lasserre, Paris VIIIe,
Le Restaurant Jean-Luc Tartarin, Le Havre,
L'Auberge des Glazicks, Plomodiern (note, Brittany is putting itself on the gastronomic map!)
Jacques Decoret, Vichy

And the top awards for the year go to:
Mauro Colagreco (Mirazur, Menton) - Cuisinier de l'année (chef of the year)
Pascal Vuillemin (Le Rive Gauche, Tours) - Révélation de l'année (discovery of the year)
Château de la Muire (L'Assiette Champenoise, Tinqueux) - Établissement de l'année (Restaurant of the year)
Alexandre Jean (L'Astrance, Paris) - Sommelier de l'année
Véronique Abadie (L'Amphitryon, Lorient), Directrice de salle de l'année (restaurant manager of the year) (Another Brittany restaurant . . .)

I’ll try and take in at least a couple of these over the next few months and report back.