Can Loiseau be Loiseau without Loiseau?

Can you continue the legacy of a chef-driven restaurant long after the chef is no longer with us?

During my lifetime, there have been many chefs I have idolized. I studied their lives trying to comprehend what made them tick, much like a student of music might study a great composer. I read the great chefs’ cookbooks cover to cover like a novel; I devoured any and all articles I could find written about them; I ate in their restaurants if I could afford it; I even cooked their dishes and featured them on my menus; anything, just anything to try to glean one small piece of their culinary perspective and philosophy and incorporate it into my style.

Bernard Loiseau was one such chef that I greatly adored and tried to emulate. Bernard had a meteoric rise from his early training at the Troisgros brothers’ trendsetting restaurant (1968–1971) to becoming the Gault et Millau media darling in Paris at ‘La barrière de Clichy’ to moving to Saulieu in 1975 and eventually building his empire starting in 1982 when he purchased the crumbling ‘La Côte d’Or’ from Claude Verger, his former boss. By 1991, Bernard had developed his own unique style and finally received his third star from the Michelin Guide.

I don’t do cuisine a l’eau, Please don’t call it that. It’s not water…