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Internationally reputed for his innovative, groundbreaking
cuisine, Jean-Georges Vongerichten has emerged as
one of the country's leading chefs. Acclaimed by
critics as 'formidably gifted,' a 'residential genius'
and the 'enfant terrible of modern French cooking',
his culinary vision has consistently set new standards
and helped define today's generation of cooking.
In 1986, Jean-Georges Vongerichten burst onto
the New York dining scene at the Lafayette in
the Drake Swissotel, dazzling diners with his
innovative interpretation of classic French cuisine
and earning four stars from The New York Times
at the age of 29. In the first of many bold moves
that has established him as a culinary trendsetter,
Jean-Georges traded in this formal 4-star dining
room for paper-clothed tables and opened his charming
bistro Jo Jo in 1991.
At Jo Jo, he introduced us to his 'vibrant and
spare cuisine' whose intense flavors and satisfying
textures he created by eschewing traditional meat
stocks for vegetables juices and fruit essences,
light broths and herbal vinaigrettes. Jo Jo was
named Best New Restaurant of the Year by John
Mariani in Esquire and earned three-stars from
The New York Times, which summed up his contemporary
French cuisine in the sentence "His food took
my breath away."
Jean-Georges' next venture, Vong, paid homage
to the spices and flavors of the East, a passion
he developed during the three and a half years
he lived and worked in the Orient. Using over
150 different herbs and spices to create his unique
take on Thai- inspired French cuisine, the menu
at Vong wowed both critics and patrons, earning
yet another three-star review from The New York
Times for his "explosively flavorful food." In
an adjacent space to Vong, Vongerichten also opened
The Lipstick Cafe, a stylish cafe that caters
to the midtown business crowd and serves breakfast
and lunch in a casual, upscale setting.
A year and a half later in November of 1995, Vongerichten
opened a second Vong in the Knightsbridge area
of London, earning a three star review and the
1996 vote for the London Evening Standard's Newcomer
of the Year. In September 1997, he opened Vong
in The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong, where
he has already received accolades from local media.
A fourth Vong opened in April 1999 in Chicago.
In March of 1997 Jean-Georges opened restaurant
Jean Georges in the Trump International Hotel
and Tower, earning a 4-star review from The New
York Times less than three months after opening;
he was also awarded the coveted Chef of the Year
award from John Mariani at Esquire magazine and
the Best New Restaurant award by the James Beard
Foundation.
His most recent New York City project (July 1998),
The Mercer Kitchen at the stylish Mercer Hotel
in SoHo, features an American-Provencal menu and
Ecommunal style tables in the open kitchen area
where hotel guests and diners may choose to eat,
converse and watch the kitchen's activities. In
October of 1998 Jean Georges opened Prime, a steakhouse
located in Steve Wynn's much-anticipated Bellagio
Hotel in Las Vegas.
Alsatian Roots and Traditional Training
Born and raised on the outskirts of Strasbourg in
Alsace, Jean-Georges' earliest family memories are
about food. The Vongerichten home centered around
the kitchen, where each day his mother and grandmother
would prepare lunch for the almost 50 employees
in their family-owned business. "I would wake every
morning to the most wonderful smells," reminisces
Jean-Georges "and I quickly became known as 'the
palate' to my family, tasting each sauce and dish,
recommending salt or some more herbs." His love
for food cemented into his choice for a career at
the age of 16, when his parents brought him to the
3-star Michelin-rated Auberge de l'Ill for a birthday
dinner.
Jean-Georges began his training soon after in
a work-study program at the Auberge de l'Ill as
an apprentice to chef Paul Haeberlin. He went
on to work with the top chefs in France, including
Paul Bocuse and master-chef Louis Outhier at L'Oasis
in the south of France. With this impressive three-star
Michelin training, Vongerichten won a position
at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. From 1980 to
1985, he opened an impressive 10 restaurants around
the world, including the Meridien Hotel in Singapore
and the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong; it was during
this time spent in Asia that Jean-Georges developed
his love for the exotic and aromatic flavors of
the East that would later translate into his own
interpretation on his menu at Vong.
Jean-Georges arrived in the United States in 1985,
opening the Lafayette restaurant in Boston. A
year later he arrived in New York to take over
the executive chef position at Lafayette there.
Awards and Accolades, plus a Cookbook or Two
Jean-Georges Vongerichten currently holds an unprecedented
total of twelve stars from The New York Times for
his four New York City restaurants, JoJo, Vong,
Jean Georges and The Mercer Kitchen. In 1998 Jean-Georges
was awarded three medals at the James Beard Restaurant
Awards Best New Restaurant, Outstanding Chef,
and Who's Who of Food & Beverage; it is the first
time that a chef was awarded best new restaurant
and outstanding chef in the same year.
In September of 1998 Broadway Books published
Jean-Georges' second cookbook, Jean-Georges: Cooking
at Home with a Four-Star Chef, which adapts recipes
from all of his restaurants for the home cook.
His first book, Simple Cuisine features recipes
that include his vegetable broths and vinaigrettes
and the clean flavors he favors at Jo Jo. Jean-Georges
has appeared as a guest on the Martha Stewart
Show, Live! with Regis & Kathie Lee, the Today
Show and Good Morning America as well as doing
several guest spots on the TV Food Network. He
is featured in the PBS series, In Julia's Kitchen
with Master Chefs with Julia Child, broadcast
in 1995. His third cookbook is scheduled to be
published in the Fall of 2000.
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