Troisgros family
Jean-Baptiste Troisgros (1898–1974) and his wife Marie Badaut (1900–1968), lemonade makers of Burgundian origin, ran the Café des négociants in Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy.
Their cuisine was simple, "sincere and true", and hiding the flavor and quality of products with sauces or concealing them under bulky decorations was out of the question.
[This quote needs a citation] Jean was trained in Paris, Pierre at the Hôtel du Golf in Étretat in Normandy; he also worked in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the Basque Country.
After receiving their professional certification (CAP [Certificat d'aptitude professionnelle]), the brothers worked together at Lucas Carton, a prestigious restaurant of the place de la Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement of Paris with the great chef Gaston Richard.
All three then teamed up in the prestigious restaurant La Pyramide in Vienne near Lyon, among the great chefs, Fernand Point, the boss with a strong personality, and Paul Mercier.
Pierre and Jean had a short stay at Maxim's for the former and the Hôtel de Crillon for the latter, before returning to Roanne; their father, Jean-Baptiste, wanted his two sons to help him and eventually replace him.
In 1957, the Hôtel Moderne became Les Frères Troisgros, with Pierre working as chef, Jean as master saucier and their father Jean-Baptiste as butler and sommelier with his knack for human contact.
Pierre was now left alone to manage the family business with Olympe, his wife, and asked Michel and Marie-Pierre to return from the United States to support them for a few months.
Claude runs the gourmet restaurant Olympe in Rio de Janeiro and three bistros, including one in Miami Beach, Florida.
Michel, born 2 April 1958 in Roanne, is the son of Pierre and Olympe Troisgros, and he studied in the École hôtelière de Grenoble between 1973 and 1976, where he met Marie-Pierre, his future wife.
They left to travel around the world in order to learn the craft in big houses like Alain Chapel in Mionnay, Frédy Girardet in Crissier, Taillevent in Paris, Michel Guérard in Eugénie-les-Bains and New York City, Comme chez Soi in Brussels, Chez Panisse in Berkeley and The Connaught (hotel) in London.
During her world tour, she worked in various countries, notably in Germany in the Black Forest, at the Hilton Hotel in Brussels, at The Connaught in London, at the Lapérouse restaurant in Paris, at Petrossian in New York City, at Michel Guérard in Eugénie-les-Bains and at the François family in Switzerland.
He trained at the Institut Paul Bocuse in Écully from 2004 to 2007 before continuing his culinary apprenticeship in major houses such as Michel Rostang in Paris, the Roca brothers in Girona, Spain, Thomas Keller in California in the Napa Valley and a few months with his uncle Claude Troisgros in Rio de Janeiro.
Concerned about ecology and biodiversity, the young man cited among his sources of influence the documentary film Tomorrow (Demain) and the peasant-philosopher Pierre Rabhi.
The narrowness of the premises, the impossibility of feeding a future project for their sons César and Léo, both cooks, led Marie-Pierre and Michel to leave the place of the train station of Roanne on 1 January 2017.
The new establishment, Le Bois sans feuilles, opened on 18 February in the quiet of an estate located in Ouches, eight kilometers west of Roanne.
It also sold high-quality products such as the judion, an enormous white bean found in tapas bars in Seville and an ingredient of choice for artichoke lovers.
In June 2008, Marie-Pierre and Michel opened a new establishment, La Colline du Colombier, a few kilometers from Roanne, at Iguerande in the Saône-et-Loire of the Brionnais region.
The Troisgros family is assisted by key people such as chef Benjamin Chmura, directors Patrice Laurent, Carole Quint and Jean-Philippe Tacail.
