Gregoire is an institution at Berkeley. The tiny restaurant opened 20 years ago in the Gourmet Ghetto area. The chef of this atypical restaurant? Grégoire Jacquet, Frenchman who came to the US in 1989. His idea? Offer takeaways that combine fast food and gastronomy. ” I like to be able to eat gourmet and gourmet meals at any time. That’s why I wanted to create an affordable restaurant that offers real quality. the tastes of the most » Grégoire Jacquet says.
A chef who has always refused to label his kitchen likes to call the place ” from a small nearby restaurant “. And add: I have always cooked what I like to eat, and whatever I like, I do. My dining room is their dining room! A concept that has been enticing for two decades and will continue to evolve as Grégoire Jacquet really gears up to launch his franchise. He should first multiply restaurants in the bay, starting in San Jose, San Francisco and Sonoma.
Ten restaurants in ten years
Grégoire Jaquet demonstrates the ambition of desire change the way people see franchises because no it shouldn’t be crap “. To take his bet, he decided to build a kitchen lab at Berkeley where all the basics would be concocted: mayonnaises, sauces, and even pre-cooking.” This will allow you to reduce pressure and control quality at the source. explains the Frenchman, who also trains all of his employees in French culinary techniques. He learns, for example, how to hold a knife manage seasonings without overdoing or not enough, calibrate the amount, avoid sprinkle everything with nutmeg, fry the meat or fry it without overcooking, etc. “.
Then these bases will be distributed to different locations. Across the San Francisco Bay, Grégoire Jacquet hopes to see his restaurants in Los Angeles, Seattle and New York. He intends to open ten restaurants in ten years. We will find the same values of product quality, traceability, improved tastes, the same packaging with cardboard boxes with his image (his portrait in the famous hat) and, above all, his flagship recipes. Among the big stars are sandwiches with duck or fried chicken and potato puffs sometimes there are very long queues.
The secret recipe of a star.
So it’s the dauphine potato? “ Not really ! as Grégoire Jacquet points out. “On has a denser puree-like texture, covered with a thin crust on the outside, fried in oil. But this oil does not penetrate, so it is less oily than the dauphine potato as we know it. The recipe that many fans and influencers travel to remains a secret, sealed with a confidentiality agreement within the team.
If a chef has earned a reputation for breaking the rules, it’s because he has a lot of solid experience. A rebel, he began studying at the age of 14. CAP and BEP in his pocket, he then began his career in a Franco-American restaurant in Paris (Hollywood Savoy). It was there that he met a chef who offered him the opportunity to travel to the US. He is 19 years old. Then in the United States, he held various positions in French gourmet restaurants. He graduated as a chef, then became a banquet chef at the Ritz-Carlton, where ” he discovers cooking and team management “. He manages up to 80 employees, moves to Puerto Rico, where he hones his skills in ” cost management, personnel management and menu development… “.
When his wife becomes pregnant, he returns to Berkeley, where she is from, and shortly after the birth of their first child, gives birth to Grégoire, where he indulges his culinary desires. The beginning of a long love story that is still bearing fruit.
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