Episode 78: Michel Richard

Michel Richard is an author, industry advocate, philanthropist, and legendary chef. Known as a pioneer of French food in America, the Brittany native knew he wanted to be a chef at 8, when he first glimpsed a restaurant kitchen. At 14, Richard apprenticed at a patisserie in Champagne, moving to Paris three years later, where he quickly rose to the top position at Gaston Lenotres esteemed pastry shop. In 1974, he moved to America to help open a Manhattan shop with Lenotre and found himself at home in a new country. Three years later, he opened Michel Richard in Los Angeles—it was an instantaneous success. A decade later, Richard opened the stylized and quintessentially French-Californian Citrus and the following year was inducted into James Beards Whos Who of Food and Beverage in America. Richard then opened a series of restaurants across the country, and even in Japan. Find out what it took to transition from pastry to savory chef and hear the legendary Michel Richard reflect on his career with Dorothy Cann Hamilton on Chefs Story. This program was sponsored by Heritage Foods USA. [Savory cooking] is fun because you have to come up with something different every day. You get to create an emotion with your cooking. [15:00] In 10 years America will be the best. All the young chefs want to move to America. [27:00] --Michel Richard on Chefs Story