The Perfectionist

Starred review from March 28, 2005
What could possibly possess a three-star French chef, a master of his difficult trade in a country that reveres cuisine, to commit suicide in 2003, just after wrapping up the daily lunch service? Readers discover the reasons in a book so knowledgeable and breezily entertaining that it's easy to forget, while chuckling or salivating, that it's also something of an elegy to Bernard Loiseau of La Cote d'Or. Chelminski has lived in Paris for more than 30 years as a journalist, covering gastronomy, among other things, and is on schmoozing (and freeloading) terms with almost every chef in France; he first met Loiseau in 1974 when the 23-year-old chef was already winning notice. A high school dropout, Loiseau was an extroverted workaholic, clubby in the kitchen though shy with women, and a bipolar personality, obsessed with winning three stars in the venerable Michelin Red Guide
. How he did it is a fascinating, discursive story. Readers learn what life was like for an apprentice (under the Troisgros brothers) in the 1960s in a kitchen that sounds near-medieval, and for a hot young chef in a chic Paris bistro in the '70s. Along the way (with droll footnotes), we're treated to a history of modern French cuisine, a look at how the Michelin family reached its gatekeeping apotheosis, encounters with dozens of chefs and many morsels of gossip. The pièce de résistance is the account of how Loiseau took a former three-star restaurant, demoted to none, back to triumphant stellar glory—and then what happened. Agent, Matthew Guma at Inkwell Management.

April 15, 2005
In France, a country that practically defines itself by food, the "Michelin Red Guide" has the power to make or break a restaurant. So in February 2003 when Bernard Loiseau, chef and owner of La Cô te d'Or, heard rumors that the prestigious guidebook was going to take away one of his coveted three stars, he committed suicide. The rumors proved to be untrue, but Loiseau's death prompted American journalist Chelminski ("The French at Table") to examine what could push his friend to such a tragic ending. Tracing Loiseau's life from lowly kitchen apprentice to culinary star, Chelminski details the ambition, insecurity, and obsessive quest for perfectionism that propelled Loiseau to the top. In addition to Loiseau's own story, Chelminski offers readers a fascinating look at French cuisine from the 1930s to the present, as well as a brief history of the "Michelin Red Guide" and its competitors. Readers who reveled in the details offered by Leslie Brenner's "American Appetite: The Coming of Age of a Cuisine" or who loved Jacques Pé pin's "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen" will find Chelminski's expertly crafted story equally tempting. Recommended for academic libraries with culinary arts programs or public libraries where the cookery section is popular. -John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2005
It is a sad and cautionary tale of living larger than expectations, a tale that could apply equally as well to a captain of industry as it does to haute cuisine. A Michelin three-star recipient, Burgundy chef Bernard Loiseau, owner of La Cote d'Or in Saulier, committed suicide in February 2003. Journalist Chelminski traces his friend's career while scrutinizing the biographies of the granddaddies of the new French cuisine--the brothers Troisgros, Fernand Point, Paul Bocuse, and others--as well as the origins of " Le Guide Michelin." The story is related with an obvious appreciation of Gallic cooking and its creators; the author helps us understand the art and science of a very demanding, militarylike discipline: "You did it right or you left." Add to that monetary issues (Loiseau was 21 million francs in debt), his never-quite-conquered bipolar disease, and the ever-increasing pressures to keep up with the Michel Guerards--and the picture becomes clear. At the same time, Chelminski celebrates the chef's legacies with tales of wondrous generosity and amazing inventions--crackly skinned pike perch in red wine sauce and crayfish with tarragon. A warm tribute to a man and his search for perfection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)