Le Louis XV Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester Alain Ducasse at Morpheus Restaurant Le Meurice Alain Ducasse Le Grill MUNI Alain Ducasse BEIGE Alain Ducasse Blue by Alain Ducasse IDAM by Alain Ducasse La Bastide de Moustiers ESTERRE by Alain Ducasse Il Ristorante Alain Ducasse Napoli Ducasse au Château de Versailles - Le Grand Contrôle
Ducasse was born in Orthez in southwestern France and was educated on a farm in Castel-Sarrazin. In 1972, when he was sixteen, Ducasse began an apprenticeship at the Pavillon Landais restaurant in Soustons and at the Bordeaux hotel school. After this apprenticeship, he began work at Michel Guérard's restaurant in Eugénie-les-Bains while also working for Gaston Lenôtre during the summer months. In 1977, Ducasse started working as an assistant at Moulin de Mougins under legendary chef Roger Vergé, creator of Cuisine du Soleil, and learned the Provençal cooking methods for which he was later known.[citation needed]
In 2012 he held 21 Michelin stars, making him the second ranked chef worldwide in terms of total Michelin stars – Joël Robuchon had 31 and Gordon Ramsay had 17 at the time.
Ducasse's first position as chef came in 1980 when he took over the kitchens at L'amandier in Mougins. One year later, he assumed the position of head chef at La Terrasse in the Hôtel Juana in Juan-les-Pins. In 1984, he was awarded two stars in the Michelin Red Guide. In the same year Ducasse was the only survivor of a Piper Aztec aircraft crash that injured him severely.
Career as chef
Alain Ducasse (centre) at the Congresso italiano di cucina d'autore with Massimo Bottura (left)
In 1986, Ducasse was offered the chef position at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, with management including the hotel's Le Louis XV. After assuring himself that the Hotel's other restaurant operations were operating well, Ducasse continued to run management.[citation needed]
In 1988, Ducasse expanded beyond the restaurant industry and opened La Bastide de Moustiers, a twelve-bedroom country inn in Provence and he began attaining financial interests in other Provence hotels. On 12 August 1996, the Alain Ducasse restaurant opened in Le Parc – Sofitel Demeure Hôtels in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The Red Guide awarded the restaurant three stars just eight months after opening.[citation needed]
Ducasse went to the United States and in June 2000 opened the Alain Ducasse restaurant in New York City's Essex hotel at 160 Central Park South, receiving the Red Guide's three stars in December 2005, in the first Red Guide for NYC. Ducasse became the first chef to have three restaurants awarded three Michelin stars at the same time. That restaurant closed in 2007 when Ducasse chose to open a restaurant in Las Vegas named Mix, which later went on to earn one star in the Michelin Red Guide. In early 2008, Ducasse opened Adour, at the St. Regis Hotel on 16th and K Street in Washington, D.C., and has also opened the more casual Bistro Benoit New York, at 60 West 55th Street.
On 2 July 2011, Ducasse prepared a multi-course gala dinner for the wedding of Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock. It was the first time he prepared an official meal for a head of state. He was also in charge of preparing the post-festivities brunch on 3 July, in conjunction with Joël Robuchon.
Recognition
Ducasse became the first chef to own restaurants carrying three Michelin Stars in three cities. The New York restaurant was dropped from the 2007 Michelin Guide because the restaurant was scheduled to close. Ducasse has become known through his writing and influences. Ducasse is also only one of two chefs to hold 21 Michelin stars throughout his career.[citation needed]
He has been special guest in the US and Italian versions of MasterChef. In 2013 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement on The World's 50 Best Restaurants List. In June 2022 he was recognized by the International Hospitality Institute on the Global 100 in Hospitality, a list featuring the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality.
Nationality
Ducasse was a French citizen by birth. On 17 June 2008, he became a naturalized citizen of Monaco. He chose Monegasque citizenship in order to take advantage of the principality's tax rates, giving up his
French nationality as Monegasque people were not allowed to hold dual citizenship at this time.
Restaurants and operations
Alain Ducasse's restaurants, cooking schools, cookbooks, and consulting activities had revenues of $15.9million in 2002. Ducasse has also opened a cooking school for the general public in Paris and another for chefs (ADF), which also works for the European Space Agency to develop astronaut meals to be taken into space.
Ducasse's recent restaurants include:
Adour (Paris, France) - at L'Ecole Ducasse
Alain Ducasse Baccarat (Meudon, France) – also: Le Jardin (terrace at Alain Ducasse Baccarat) and Midi-Minuit (bar and restaurant at Alain Ducasse Baccarat)
La Terrasse (Antibes, France) – head chef from 1981-1987
Le Jules Verne (Eiffel Tower, Paris, France) – oversaw culinary operations from 1996-2020
Le Relais du Parc (Paris, France) – oversaw culinary operations from 1996-2020
MiX Dubai (Dubai, UAE) – closed 2021
MiX New York (New York, US) – closed 2005
MiX on the Beach (Vieques, Puerto Rico) – closed 2012
OMER (Monte Carlo, Monaco) – closed 2020
Ostape (Bidarray, France) – closed 2009
Le Reche (Paris, France) – from 2007-2009
Restaurant Alain Ducasse at 59 Raymond (later 59 Poincare) (Paris, France) – until 2020
Sapid (Paris, France) – closed 2025
Spoon (Paris, France) – closed 2025
Spoon (later Reche) (Hong Kong) – closed 2020
Spoon Byblos (later Rivea Byblos, and Cucina Byblos) (Saint-Tropez, France) – through 2024
Spoon Carthage (Carthage, Tunisia) – closed 2006
Spoon des Iles (Bella Mare, Mauritius) – closed 2007
Spoon Food & Wine (Paris, France) – closed 2010
Spoon+ London (London, UK) – closed 2007
Tamaris (Beirut, Lebanon) – closed 2006
Voyages by Alain Ducasse (Macau) – closed 2020
In 2004 Alain Ducasse opened a restaurant in a resort near Biarritz, in the French Basque Country. However, after several bombing attacks by Irrintzi, an armed Basque nationalist organization, which accused him of being a speculator and of "folkloring" the Basque Country, Ducasse decided to leave the Basque Country.
