Michelin’s new 3-star chef sheds tear at being anointed to France’s gastronomic firmament

Michelin grants 3rd star to country auberge

PARIS — Gilles Goujon shed tears of joy after learning his L’Auberge du Vieux Puits, tucked in a village in southern France, won a coveted third star from the arbiter of fine dining, the Michelin Red Guide.

But he insisted he remains as much a simple cook as a great chef.

The auberge, which opened 18 years ago with a staff of two — Goujon and his wife — joins 25 other three-star establishments in the firmament of French gastronomy.

“To be a great chef, you must be a cook, a cook in spirit, a cook in the heart,” Goujon said in a telephone interview, calling his auberge a “country restaurant.”

Goujon, 48 years old and 30 years on the job, said it was “an emotional moment” when Michelin director Jean-Luc Naret called Sunday evening to inform him of the honor.

“I shed a few little tears,” he said.

The Michelin Red Guide announced its annual ratings of France’s eating establishments Monday, a much-awaited event in a country where cuisine was raised to an art centuries ago — and where, despite inroads by fast food eateries, it remains an essential element of life.

One restaurant, La Maison de Marc Veyrat, on Lake Annecy in the Alpine foothills, lost its perch at the top — and all of its stars — with the departure a year ago of chef Marc Veyrat, always distinguishable by his large black hat.

In the Michelin Red Guide’s 2010 edition, 10 eating establishments in France gained two-star status, bringing the total in that category to 77.

At least one departure, chef Jean-Francois Piege of the Paris hotel Le Crillon’s restaurant, Les Ambassadeurs, took that luxury eatery off the two star list. The restaurant is currently closed. The Chateau les Crayeres in Reims suffered the same fate with the loss of chef Didier Elena, going from two stars to none.

Michelin, which uses anonymous tasters to see what’s cooking and score humble and luxury kitchens, punished three other two-star establishments, dropping them to one, including Helene Darroze on Paris’ Left Bank, whose chef of that name is one of the rare women to reach gastronomical renown.

In the one-star category, totaling 455 restaurants, Michelin added 47 new names.

Michelin’s 2010 French edition also awarded 555 restaurants — 105 new to the list — with what it calls a “Bib Gourmand,” a sign of good value for money with meals costing no more than €35 ($48) in Paris and €29 elsewhere in France.

Acclaim went to Goujon’s L’Auberge du Vieux Puits, a renovated wine cellar in the tiny village of Fontjoncouse, in the Corbieres region near Narbonne and some 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the walled medieval city of Carcassonne, is the standout winner in the annual classification.

After winning its first star in 1997 and its second in 2001, it now has three.

The third star fulfilled Goujan’s lifelong dream.

“It’s 18 years ago that I opened the auberge and 18 years that I think of three stars,” he said. “Three stars is something exceptional. It’s the biggest prize for a cook. It’s enormous,” he said.

The auberge, which has several guest rooms and a small pool, features what Goujon says is Mediterranean cuisine, contemporary and with a traditional accent, using products that follow the seasons.

“I try to have a creative and especially contemporary and unique cuisine but always with an accent on the terroir,” he said, using a term to describe the local land and the products it produces.

Among dishes featured are young roasted partridge, its thighs wrapped in cabbage leaves, Mediterranean sea bass perfumed with yuzu, a Japanese citrus fruit.

But Goujon said, citing an old French saying, “The best dish is perhaps the one I haven’t yet created.”

Michelin, which celebrated its hundredth French edition last year, now has 25 guides and is present in 23 countries on six continents. Restaurants anointed with three stars usually have long waiting lists so eager diners will have to start making plans. Goujon, whose clients thus far are mainly European, said he only had a dip in reservations when the economic crisis spiked. And he said he does not intend to raise his prices. Menus run from €58 to €130.