Gérard Vié
Vié - A great chef
By Laurent Feneau

From the heights of his "Trois Marchés', a restaurant boasting three stars and located at the very heart of the Trianon Palace, a stone's throw from Versailles Castle, Gérard Vié raises French gastronomy to the level of art.

In 1991, when Gérard Vié opened "Les Trois Marches" at the Trianon Palace in Versailles, he was not just leaving a restaurant of the same name - though considerably smaller - already located close to the castle, but he also left behind seven restaurants in France, two in the United States, and another in the Bermudas. Since then, every passing year seems to justify the radical choice of the master Chef who appears to have made this magnificent historic 5 star hotel his principal residence. And what could be more natural than the castle of the Sun King situated just 50 metres from the Palace, for this great cook who, like the walls which surround it, combines so well the most classical notes to the most subtle fantasies? In short, a gay insouciance, which allows him to create the most daring combinations like, for example, lobster sausages simmered with pig's trotters …So, although Gérard Vié did his training in the great traditional hotels - Lapérouse, Lucas-Carlton and the Plaza among others - he maintains a contemporary approach to gastronomy. "I've always straddled two chairs", he declares good humouredly.

From the southwest to the west of Paris
Two chairs, no doubt, a position he has been familiar with since childhood, having grown up between two outstanding cooks - his mother and his aunt. And indeed, young Gérard spent most of his holidays in Aude where he grew up surrounded by women who spent hours cooking. Moulded by the tastes and culinary traditions of the region, his mother and his aunt very soon taught him the best sin of all: the love of good food. At thirteen, during his first communion celebration, the future master chef tasted with relish his first roast partridge. Four years earlier, he had already swooned over a Henry IV beef tenderloin ….a royal dish which seemed to predict his ascension to the kitchens of Versailles!
From this south western family cuisine Gérard Vié always retained a respect for the seasons and the pleasure of working with good products. What's more, he does not hesitate to go out of his way for a product that he finds exceptional. He adds, "I have a network of suppliers whom I have patronised for a very long time. For instance, I get my pork from Saint-Yriex where they raise the best pigs in France, whereas my lamb comes from Aveyron where the breeders are known for pampering their animals." This network, which is mainly provincial, sometimes even stretches abroad. The chef, a connoisseur of vegetables, does not hesitate at times to import certain products from Spain or Italy. That is the case with his tomatoes, which he buys at 40 Euros a kilo from Sicily…. A good product associated with an excellent cook: vital conditions, but not necessarily enough, because, although the chef from Versailles is an indefatigable seeker of new textures and novel flavours, he has known the pain of failure.

A starry reception
Gerard Vié is, in fact, an intellectual. "When I think of a particular dish, I already know how it is going to taste, and of course, I'm usually disappointed, which is quite a problem", he admits. Fortunately, the chef has managed to put together a well-knit team of thirty people who manage to retain their good humour under the extremely exacting working conditions. And so, "when I draw a blank, I don't hesitate to delegate, because what cannot be done by a single person, can generally be achieved by a group", he explains.
A believer of the good life and generous by nature, the man naturally accords the highest priority to pampering his guests. When describing the ambience of Trois Marches, he prefers to talk of "friendliness" rather than conviviality. "To welcome a guest is to greet each one who arrives, even if some of them don't respond, and to follow all the essential and necessary protocols, which are to be observed in a star establishment; this can also come in the shape of certain thoughtful touches like furniture designed to hold ladies' handbags, adds our host. It is obvious that Gérard Vié has a certain amount of experience in this field, and even an innate sense of protocol. In 1989, he was the one who organized the meal for the 37 Heads of State at the Orsay Museum for the bicentenary celebrations of the French Revolution….. "It is one of my best memories in cooking", he avers. The guests of the Trois Marches are certainly well looked after. The proof is, that the clientele consists mostly of faithful regulars, from whom "I have never had a negative comment", remarks the boss. And yet, the chef continues to push even further the frontiers of his culinary experience. To convince oneself it is enough to taste the rare lobster with potatoes and celery root ravioli garnished with its purée of mushrooms, truffles and duck liver, or the "black bottom of Saint-Yriex" with green lemon and onion preserve. In short, Gérard Vié's cooking is a reflection of himself: strict and insolent, sturdy and fantastic, but always refined.
An aesthete and a collector of art, the chef creates his dishes with the precision of an artist. For this lover of paintings and the opera, "cooking is undeniably a form of art; a plate is like a picture where each ingredient and each colour strikes a balance. The main problem is that this form of artistic expression should be understood and accepted by the guest", he explains. A food critic once remarked of Gérard Vie that he "gave himself up only to happiness"… a portrait that the chef corroborates "inasmuch as such an attitude is necessary when one takes into consideration the inherent fragility of our profession", he declares. And to conclude, "Each new day we have to review everything, and we know we are fallible". If to err is human, the cuisine of the chef of Versailles is, quite simply, royal.

Chinese Portrait
"If you were…"
- A virtue: tolerance
- A vice: excessive generosity
- An animal: a dog
- A country: France
- A musical piece: A Puccini opera
- A book: "The legend of Jimmy" by Didier Van Cauwelaert
- A famous woman: Marie Curie
- A dish: rib roast
- A wine: white wines, especially Chardonnay

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