[3] Pacaud started cooking at age 15, in 1962, as an apprentice at the famed Eugenie (Mére) Brazier's restaurant Col de la Luère located 20 km from Lyon.

Pacaud spent the next three years as commis at the Tante Alice restaurant in Lyon before becoming chef de partie at La Méditerranée in Paris.

[4] Pushed by Eugénie Brazier's encouragements, he applied to work in 1976 with Claude Peyrot, the chef and owner of the Vivarois (a Michelin three star restaurant) on avenue Victor Hugo in Paris.

[5] In 1986, he opened L'Ambroisie at Place des Vosges and obtained three Michelins stars in 1988 which he has kept since then Pacaud rarely comes into the public's sight because he devotes himself to cuisine in the kitchen.

He has been described as following traditional processes of making food, taking the utmost care in dishes, and presenting every plate as an elegant art.