Eric Ripert
Encyclopedia
Eric Ripert (born 1965 in Antibes
) is a chef, author and television personality specializing in modern French cuisine and renowned for his work with seafood. His flagship restaurant, Le Bernardin
, located in New York City, is routinely ranked among the best restaurants in the world by Restaurant magazine's and S. Pellegrino's annual "Worlds 50 Best Restaurants" list and holds the maximum ratings of four stars from The New York Times
and three stars from the Michelin Guide
. Ripert inherited the title of executive chef and partner of Le Bernadin from founding chef Gilbert Le Coze, who opened the restaurant with his sister Maguy Le Coze in 1972.
, where he was raised. He later returned to France and attended culinary school in Perpignan
.
and was soon promoted to Assistant Chef de Partie. In 1985 Ripert left to fulfill his military service, after which he returned to Jamin as Chef Poissonier.
In 1989, Ripert moved to the United States and was hired as a sous chef in the Watergate Hotel's Jean Louis Palladin restaurant. He stayed for two years before moving to New York City in 1991 to work for David Bouley
. He stayed just under a year so he didn't break contract by being pursued by Gilbert Le Coze at Le Bernardin
. In 1994, Ripert became Le Bernardin's executive chef after Gilbert Le Coze died unexpectedly of a heart attack. The following year, at the age of 29, Ripert earned a four-star rating from the New York Times, and in 1996 he became a part-owner. In the Michelin Guide
NYC 2006, Ripert's Le Bernardin was one of four New York City restaurants to be awarded the maximum 3 Michelin stars for excellence in cuisine. Le Bernardin received four stars from the New York Times four consecutive times, making it the only restaurant to maintain that exquisite status for that length of time and never dropping a star in ten years. Le Bernardin is often referred to as the Temple of Seafood.
Ripert chairs the City Harvest’s Food Council, and is president of the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation. He has been a guest chef at the French Embassies in Mexico and Venezuela and for the New York City Ballet.
Ripert lent his name, talents, and several members of his team, including Le Bernardin's then-sous chef Richard Brower, to the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman
, in the form of two restaurants: Blue and Periwinkle. The former received a AAA Five Diamond Award
, the only restaurant in the Caribbean to receive this rating. Both restaurants make creative and extensive use of local food products – particularly the lobster and red snapper
, which are strictly sourced from the surrounding waters – as well as sea salt harvested by evaporation. Blue features a three course prix-fixe menu by tradition, as well as a six course tasting menu and à la carte
selection. They were the first restaurants to bear Ripert's name and he reportedly brings a team to the restaurants once a month to ensure quality.
Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert at the Ritz-Carlton on 22nd & M Streets in Washington, D.C., opened on 8 November 2007. The concept features casual French and American bistro fare in DC's West End neighborhood. In early 2009, to encourage people to continue to go out for meals despite the economic downturn, Westend Bistro began serving a family-style Sunday Supper of a starter and entree for $28 per person. Ripert opened his newest venture in the Ritz Carlton Philadelphia spring 2008. The name of the restaurant, 10 Arts (run by former Le Bernardin Sous Chef and now Chef de cuisine Jennifer Carroll, also a Top Chef
contestant), comes from the hotel's address along Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts.
Eric Ripert has made several guest appearances on cooking-based television shows, including guest judge and assistant chef roles on the second, third, fourth and fifth seasons of Bravo's "Top Chef". Chef Ripert had been considered to join season 8 of Top Chef as a permanent judge, but bowed out when his employee Jen Caroll was selected as a contestant again. He is friends with and has appeared on many episodes of Anthony Bourdain
's No Reservations. Most recently he has launched a series of brief online cooking videos called "Get Toasted" on his website AVECERIC.com which focuses on easy and quick meals that can be prepared and cooked in minutes with a toaster oven. In the series he uses a somewhat high end brick-oven based toaster oven produced by Cuisinart. Adding to his adventures, PBS has aired Avec Eric episodes (started September 2009) where he travels the world and finds inspiration and shows the idea in a profession setting, travels on location, and then finally shows the enlightenment in his very own home kitchen. Chef Eric occasionally resides in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York with his wife, Sondra and son.
Chef Ripert has been a featured chef on Great Chefs
television.
In 2010 he played himself in the television show Treme
on HBO (season 1 episode 5). He returned in his cameo role in Season 2, in multiple episodes.
Antibes
Antibes is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.It lies on the Mediterranean in the Côte d'Azur, located between Cannes and Nice. The town of Juan-les-Pins is within the commune of Antibes...
) is a chef, author and television personality specializing in modern French cuisine and renowned for his work with seafood. His flagship restaurant, Le Bernardin
Le Bernardin
Le Bernardin is a Michelin Guide three star, Zagat-rated restaurant in New York City. It was started in 1972 in Paris by Gilbert and Maguy le Coze and moved to New York in 1986....
, located in New York City, is routinely ranked among the best restaurants in the world by Restaurant magazine's and S. Pellegrino's annual "Worlds 50 Best Restaurants" list and holds the maximum ratings of four stars from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and three stars from the Michelin Guide
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
. Ripert inherited the title of executive chef and partner of Le Bernadin from founding chef Gilbert Le Coze, who opened the restaurant with his sister Maguy Le Coze in 1972.
Early life
He was born in France and learned to cook at a young age from his grandmother. When he was young, his family moved to AndorraAndorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
, where he was raised. He later returned to France and attended culinary school in Perpignan
Perpignan
-Sport:Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 , while their rugby league side plays in the engage Super League under the name Catalans Dragons.-Culture:Since 2004, every year in the...
.
Career
At the age of 17 in 1982 he moved to Paris where he worked for two years at La Tour d'Argent, a famous restaurant more than 400 years old. Ripert next worked at Jamin under Joël RobuchonJoël Robuchon
Joël Robuchon is a French chef and restaurateur. He was titled "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989 and also awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France in cuisine in 1976...
and was soon promoted to Assistant Chef de Partie. In 1985 Ripert left to fulfill his military service, after which he returned to Jamin as Chef Poissonier.
In 1989, Ripert moved to the United States and was hired as a sous chef in the Watergate Hotel's Jean Louis Palladin restaurant. He stayed for two years before moving to New York City in 1991 to work for David Bouley
David Bouley
David Bouley is an American chef and restaurateur with restaurants in TriBeCa, New York City. He is best known for his flagship restaurant, Bouley....
. He stayed just under a year so he didn't break contract by being pursued by Gilbert Le Coze at Le Bernardin
Le Bernardin
Le Bernardin is a Michelin Guide three star, Zagat-rated restaurant in New York City. It was started in 1972 in Paris by Gilbert and Maguy le Coze and moved to New York in 1986....
. In 1994, Ripert became Le Bernardin's executive chef after Gilbert Le Coze died unexpectedly of a heart attack. The following year, at the age of 29, Ripert earned a four-star rating from the New York Times, and in 1996 he became a part-owner. In the Michelin Guide
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
NYC 2006, Ripert's Le Bernardin was one of four New York City restaurants to be awarded the maximum 3 Michelin stars for excellence in cuisine. Le Bernardin received four stars from the New York Times four consecutive times, making it the only restaurant to maintain that exquisite status for that length of time and never dropping a star in ten years. Le Bernardin is often referred to as the Temple of Seafood.
Ripert chairs the City Harvest’s Food Council, and is president of the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation. He has been a guest chef at the French Embassies in Mexico and Venezuela and for the New York City Ballet.
Ripert lent his name, talents, and several members of his team, including Le Bernardin's then-sous chef Richard Brower, to the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the nation's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles southwest of Cayman Brac.-Geography:Grand Cayman encompasses 76% of...
, in the form of two restaurants: Blue and Periwinkle. The former received a AAA Five Diamond Award
Five Diamond award
The AAA Five Diamond Award is the highest level of the AAA Diamond Ratings System for restaurants and lodgings administered by AAA ....
, the only restaurant in the Caribbean to receive this rating. Both restaurants make creative and extensive use of local food products – particularly the lobster and red snapper
Red snapper (fish)
The red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, is a fish found in the Gulf of Mexico and the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States and, much less commonly, northward as far as Massachusetts. In Latin American Spanish it is known as huachinango or pargo...
, which are strictly sourced from the surrounding waters – as well as sea salt harvested by evaporation. Blue features a three course prix-fixe menu by tradition, as well as a six course tasting menu and à la carte
À la carte
À la carte is a French language loan phrase meaning "according to the menu", and used in* A reference to a menu of items priced and ordered separately, i.e. the usual operation of restaurants * To order an item from the menu on its own, e.g...
selection. They were the first restaurants to bear Ripert's name and he reportedly brings a team to the restaurants once a month to ensure quality.
Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert at the Ritz-Carlton on 22nd & M Streets in Washington, D.C., opened on 8 November 2007. The concept features casual French and American bistro fare in DC's West End neighborhood. In early 2009, to encourage people to continue to go out for meals despite the economic downturn, Westend Bistro began serving a family-style Sunday Supper of a starter and entree for $28 per person. Ripert opened his newest venture in the Ritz Carlton Philadelphia spring 2008. The name of the restaurant, 10 Arts (run by former Le Bernardin Sous Chef and now Chef de cuisine Jennifer Carroll, also a Top Chef
Top Chef
Top Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...
contestant), comes from the hotel's address along Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts.
Eric Ripert has made several guest appearances on cooking-based television shows, including guest judge and assistant chef roles on the second, third, fourth and fifth seasons of Bravo's "Top Chef". Chef Ripert had been considered to join season 8 of Top Chef as a permanent judge, but bowed out when his employee Jen Caroll was selected as a contestant again. He is friends with and has appeared on many episodes of Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain is an American chef, author and television personality. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure program Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.A...
's No Reservations. Most recently he has launched a series of brief online cooking videos called "Get Toasted" on his website AVECERIC.com which focuses on easy and quick meals that can be prepared and cooked in minutes with a toaster oven. In the series he uses a somewhat high end brick-oven based toaster oven produced by Cuisinart. Adding to his adventures, PBS has aired Avec Eric episodes (started September 2009) where he travels the world and finds inspiration and shows the idea in a profession setting, travels on location, and then finally shows the enlightenment in his very own home kitchen. Chef Eric occasionally resides in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York with his wife, Sondra and son.
Chef Ripert has been a featured chef on Great Chefs
Great Chefs
Great Chefs is a franchise of cooking shows and cookbooks that began with thirteen half hour programs produced for the American Public Broadcasting Service entitled Great Chefs of New Orleans...
television.
In 2010 he played himself in the television show Treme
Treme (TV series)
Treme is an American television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer that premiered on April 11, 2010 on HBO. It takes its name from Tremé, a neighborhood of New Orleans...
on HBO (season 1 episode 5). He returned in his cameo role in Season 2, in multiple episodes.
Books
- Le Bernardin Cookbook (co-authored with Maguy Le Coze) (1998), ISBN 0-385-48841-6
- A Return to Cooking (co-authored with Michael RuhlmanMichael RuhlmanMichael Carl Ruhlman is an American author. He has written 12 books of mostly nonfiction, the best known of which have been in collaboration with American chefs.-Personal:...
) (2002), ISBN 1-57965-187-9 - On the Line: The Stations, the Heat, the Cooks, the Costs, the Chaos, and the Triumphs (co-authored with Christine Muhlke) (November 2008), ISBN 1-57965-369-3
- Avec Eric: A Culinary Journey with Eric Ripert (2010), ISBN-13: 978-0470889350
Awards
- "Best Restaurant in America" (1997) by GQ
- "Best Food in New York City" (2000–2007) by Zagat
- "Outstanding Restaurant of the Year" (1998) by the James Beard FoundationJames Beard FoundationThe James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...
- "Top Chef in New York City" (1998) by the James Beard Foundation
- "Outstanding Service Award" (1999) by the James Beard Foundation
- "Outstanding Chef of the Year" (2003) by the James Beard Foundation
- Gayot Top 40 Restaurants in the US: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004
Philanthropy
- Ripert is the chair of City Harvest’s Food Council. In this capacity he works to bring together New York’s top chefs, restaurateurs and others in the food community to assist City Harvest in its mission to raise funds and to increase the quantity and quality of food donations. "City HarvestCity HarvestCity Harvest may refer to:*City Harvest, a Chicago Family Harvest Church ministry*City Harvest, a New York food rescue organization*City Harvest Church, Singapore*City Harvest Community Services Association...
, a non-profit organization founded in 1982, is the world's first and New York City's only food rescue program. City Harvest exists to end hunger in communities throughout New York City, through food rescue and distribution, education, and other practical, innovative solutions." - President of the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation, which serves to recognize and honor Chef Jean-Louis Palladin's outstanding culinary contributions. "Part of its mission will be to develop programs to increase the understanding and appreciation of high quality ingredients among young chefs and food professionals."
- For the past three years, Ripert has hosted the Tibetan Aid Project's Taste & Tribute New York benefit dinner and auction at his acclaimed ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
restaurant, Le BernardinLe BernardinLe Bernardin is a Michelin Guide three star, Zagat-rated restaurant in New York City. It was started in 1972 in Paris by Gilbert and Maguy le Coze and moved to New York in 1986....
. "Funds raised at the annual Taste & Tribute benefit dinners help support a monumental effort to restore Tibetan-language texts to libraries all over the Himalayan region. So far, this project has led to the distribution of nearly two million traditional Buddhist texts—one of the largest free book distributions in history. These treasured texts are presented at the annual World Peace Ceremony in Bodh Gaya, India, and benefit Tibetans in exile communities and in TibetTibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
itself."
External links
- Profile at Great Chefs
- Personal Blog
- Biography at CuisineNet
- in depth video interview w/ Eric
- Biography at Global Gourmet
- iVillage's Secret Sauce: Eric Ripert's Warm Peekytoe-Maryland Lump "Crab Cake"
- iVillage's Secret Sauce: Eric Ripert's Grilled Trout with Sauce Vierge and Potato and Leek"
- Westend Bistro, Washington, DC
- Chef’s Table: Drinking with Eric Ripert