Bernard Loiseau

Some of you may recall a couple of years ago when Bernard Loiseau, a rather famous French Chef, shot himself in the head, shortly after losing his third Michelin Star. This was a major story in the food world - not limited to France. Well, someone has written a non-biography on Loiseau which I am really looking forward to reading. http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/07/26/the.perfectionist/index.html

I recall around that time, Kim and I were spending a weekend at The Domain of Killean, a super little lodge - very quite, in the Haliburton area. We were actually the only guests that weekend, and the resident chef, who was also French, cooked us a private meal that we ate in front of a roaring fire. And we talked with him about Bernard Loiseau - and also the mystique and inflluence of the Michelin Star.

When we were in Provence we had one dinner - one very costly dinner ($400 I recall) at a 3 star Michelin restaurant. Over the next 2 weeks we ate in 2 or 3 other restaurants - all simple local fair. If someone gave me $500 for dinner, I would go back to the local, "unstarred" restaurant that we visited in Cotignac without hesitation - I would never go back to the 3 star restaurant in which we ate dinner in Cagnes-Sur-Mer. The food itself was certainly very good - but frankly, great food & great service in an informal setting is what I am looking for when I head out for a meal - that is not what I found in my 3 Star Michelin experience.

I'm looking forward to reading this book, and will be sure to give a review. The element tat intrigues me is not simply a biography of the Chef, but perhaps a little more insight into the influence of a Michelin Star.