PhotosLocation


Le_Grand_Vefour Latitude and Longitude:

48°51′58″N 2°20′16″E / 48.8661°N 2.3379°E / 48.8661; 2.3379
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Le Grand Vefour)

Grand Véfour

Le Grand Véfour (French: [lə ɡʁɑ̃ vefuʁ]), the first grand restaurant in Paris, [1] France, was opened in the arcades of the Palais-Royal in 1784 by Antoine Aubertot, as the Café de Chartres, [2] and was purchased in 1820 by Jean Véfour, [3] who was able to retire within three years, selling the restaurant to Jean Boissier. [4] A list of regular customers over the last two centuries includes most of the heavyweights of French culture and politics, along with le tout-Paris. [5] Sauce Mornay was one of the preparations introduced at the Grand Véfour. Closed from 1905 to 1947, a revived Grand Véfour opened with the celebrated chef Raymond Oliver in charge in the autumn of 1948. Jean Cocteau designed his menu. [6] The restaurant, with its early nineteenth-century neoclassical décor of large mirrors in gilded frames and painted supraportes, continues its tradition of gastronomy at the same location, "a history-infused citadel of classic French cuisine." [7]

In 1983, the restaurant was destroyed in a bomb attack. It was then bought by Jean Taittinger who restored and reopened the place. [8]

When it lost one of its three Michelin stars in 2008 [9] under the régime of Guy Martin for the Taittinger Group, it was headline news. [10]

Notes

  1. ^ Elizabeth Sharland, A Theatrical Feast in Paris: From Molière to Deneuve 2008:40ff, "Le Grand Véfour".
  2. ^ A compliment to the aristocratic landlord, the duc de Chartres, soon to be known as Philippe-Égalité.
  3. ^ Rebecca L. Spang, The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture, pp. 6, 64, 182, 187, 206, 220, 224, 226, 238f and 245.
  4. ^ Sharland 2008:41.
  5. ^ Little brass plaques mark the favourite seats of notables like Colette and Victor Hugo.
  6. ^ ""Les étoiles du Grand Véfour"". Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
  7. ^ Frommer's Guide
  8. ^ Sharland, Elizabeth (November 2005). A Theatrical Feast in Paris: From Moliere to Deneuve. iUniverse. p. 44. ISBN  9780595374519.
  9. ^ The third star, awarded Olivier in 1953 and lost with his departure, had been regained in the 2000 Guide Michelin ( "Les étoiles du Grand Véfour" Archived 30 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine).
  10. ^ "Grand Vefour restaurant in Paris loses third Michelin star" International Herald-Tribune,, 3 March 2008

48°51′58″N 2°20′16″E / 48.8661°N 2.3379°E / 48.8661; 2.3379