French chef Christophe Hay on working for Paul Bocuse and reducing food waste in his restaurant
- The chef and owner of the two-Michelin-star La Maison d’à Côté restaurant, in France, talks about the challenges he faced in America Hay’s years spent in Bocuse’s ‘silent kitchens’ were the best of his life
What are your earliest memories of food? “I started cooking when I was around eight. My maternal grandmother was always in the kitchen, and living on a farm [in France’s Loire Valley], on the weekend we prepared a big lunch for the whole family. I helped her make tarts using seasonal fruits like plum and strawberry. I also picked vegetables from the garden, like different kinds of carrots and green beans.”
Where was your first kitchen job? “In 1996, I went to Michelin-one-starred Le Rendez-Vous des Pêcheurs [in Courthiézy, in the Marne Valley], headed by Alsatian chef Eric Reithler. I was there for five years. The menu was 80 per cent fish, so it was all new for me, learning how to prepare fish.”
How did you end up in the United States? “Chef Eric was good friends with [Lyon-based French chef] Paul Bocuse. One day, he told me that Paul needed a chef and to speak with him. I went to Lyon in March 2002. After one month, Paul told me to go to Orlando, Florida, in two weeks, to open his restaurant Monsieur Paul, in Disney World. It was a big change for me, because of the language, preparation, everything. My team was 50 per cent local, 50 per cent French. ”
What was it like working for the legendary chef? “He ran silent kitchens. He respected his team and the guest. I was scared working for him as I was only 24 then but it was the best five years of my life. He had lots of love for everyone and everything.”
Tell us about your time in Orlando. “Learning English was difficult for me, but living there was easy. As a gastronomic restaurant, we only had dinner service. I had time to exercise and enjoy the sunny outdoors. My first daughter was born in Orlando. Americans work hard every day. If you don’t work, you don’t have social security. One guy in my team had one job for lunch and then worked for me for dinner, six days a week. If you want to work, there are a lot of possibilities in the US.”
Where did you go after Orlando? “In 2007, my father was diagnosed with cancer and I went back to France to spend time with him for a year. After he passed, I went to Paris and worked at the Hotel de Sers. After two years, the group that owned the hotel, then called Bessé Signature, made me executive chef of three restaurants that had different menus. I had shares in the company, so that gave me experience in owning a restaurant before I opened my own place.”