King Georges Perrier and Kamikazes

In 1994, I was the Executive Chef at The Restaurant at Doneckers, a fine dining, French influenced restaurant in Ephrata PA. At that time, Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia, long considered one of the best restaurants in America, was named THE best restaurant in the U.S. by a Conde Nast Travelers Magazine reader’s poll. In addition, the Mobil Travel Guide had awarded the restaurant with 5 stars, the highest possible rating.

Le Bec Fin was founded by Chef Georges Perrier, an excitable bundle of energy, trained at La Pyramide, Chef Ferdinand Point’s, iconic French Restaurant. Doneckers was fortunate to have a close relationship with Chef Perrier and Le Bec Fin. His Chef de Cuisine was a former Sous Chef at Doneckers, his wife was our Sommelier. A former chef at Doneckers had known Chef Perrier in France. This relationship came to fruition for a weekend in April, with Chef Perrier, his Chef de Cuisine, Greg, myself and my staff, hosting a limited menu dinner, billed as “An Evening with Chef Georges Perrier“. The dinner was Saturday evening, two seatings, a total of 250 people. On Sunday, Chef Perrier, would lead a cooking demonstration for another 200 people, featuring his signature dish, Galette de Crab. The demonstration would take place at The Artworks at Doneckers, a separate venue, two blocks distant.

The Saturday started at 7 am with Chef Greg leading the prep. Chef Perrier was flying around checking all of our preparations in his high pitched French accented voice, “Yezz, very goud Chef, ezzecellent, more salt in diz, careful with de beurre blanc“. Georges, as I said was very high energy and his enthusiasm was infectious. Most prep complete, we gathered on the serving line to decide logistics. Which station will take care of which component, where will the components be stored for service, etc. The middle of our service line contained a gas grill, four feet wide, three feet deep. one of the entrees was a grilled Sole. The grill would need to be as hot as possible to keep the delicate Sole fillets intact. Chef Perrier, says, “Oooh, diz iz zoo hot, I pity who iz working thiz station.” Due to the difficulty involved and the delicate nature of the Sole, my Sous Chef had been assigned that station. He looks at me and mouths, “Thanks Chef”.

Dinner came and went in a flash, Chef Perrier, expediting,

• “Table 23, piick up pleeease“,
• “Where iz my Sole for 37?”
• “ORDERING…Table 5..3 Sole, 2 Lamb, Table 17..4 Lamb, 1 Sole, that’s 4 Sole, 6 Lamb all day!!

All in the high pitched French accent, delivered in machine gun rapidity. As with all busy nights on a busy restaurant line, we straddled that intense, fine line between sheer chaos and euphoria, total catastrophe only a dropped plate or a missed order away. By 11:30 pm, a full day in and 250 satisfied diners behind us, a group of us head to the Hilltop Inn, a local bar with a reputation for good, comfort food.

In our state of satisfaction and with adrenaline still flowing, we started ordering Kamikazes, by the pitcher. For the uninitiated, a Kamikaze is usually served as a shot, made with Vodka, Triple Sec and lime juice. Chef Perrier, apparently one of the uninitiated, says to Chef Greg and myself, “What iz dis?” Greg replies. “It’s a Kamikaze Chef, you’ll like it.”

Chef, as we all did, liked them. I am not sure how many pitchers we had, too many I suspect. The owner, a friendly, short heavyset woman, came out to meet the famous Chef. In true French fashion, Chef Perrier oozing charm and gregariousness, put his arm around her shoulders and expounded. “Diz iz de kind of place dat I would lovff to own, I just lovff it. Thanks you zo much for your hozpitality.” Underneath a smile that a crowbar could not remove, I think I saw her heart actually melting. Of course, she ordered another pitcher of Kamikazes, her treat, just what we needed.

Hung over, I was the first to arrive at the restaurant, about 8 am. Chef Greg and I were to prepare the Galette de Crab for Chef Perrier’s demonstration at noon. Around 9, Chef Perrier, a bit subdued after our battles with the Kamikazes, bursts in, looking around, nervously asks, “Wher iz Greg Chef, iz Greg here?” After my no, he continues, “But, Chef, wher iz Greg, he haz my mize en place for my demo.” Mise en place, means, everything in its place, it is used in the kitchen to refer to the prep needed before cooking. Chef is growing more concerned by the minute as Chef Greg, looking worse that Chef Perrier or myself, arrives around 9:45. Chef Perrier, is veritably shaking, “Greg , my mize in place, my demonztration, we muzt hurry!“, Greg calmly says, “Chef, you need to get down to the Artworks, they’re looking for you, Chef Chuck and I will take care of the prep, get going.” With that, he calmed down, thanked us and headed out of the kitchen. Greg looks at me and says, “Jesus, we got to bust it, he would have driven us crazy helping here, I had to get him out of the door.”

Greg and I busted it, got the prep done and delivered to the stage, in time for his demonstration.. We helped in the preparation and distribution of small samples to a happy crowd. All was well, a long and professionally satisfying weekend over. Chef Perrier’s schmoozing at the Hilltop remained in my memory. Little did I know that 15 years later those exact words would reappear.

I left the restaurant business 4 or 5 years later. Meanwhile a former Pastry Chef at Le Bec Fin, opened his own restaurant and patisserie in Lancaster. Cedric Barbaret, besides his Le Bec Fin credentials, also had worked at Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort, where he prepared Trump’s and Melania’s wedding cake. In the past year he has competed and won on the Food Networks’ competition, Chopped Sweets.

in 2015, Chef Barbaret invited Chef Perrier to Lancaster, to co-host a dinner at Barbaret, his Lancaster restaurant. In conjunction with this, a local independent movie house, Zoetropolis, featured a two night showing of “King Georges”, Erika Frankels documentary about the closing of Chef Perrier’s restaurant, Le Bec Fin.

The movie follows Chef Perrier and his former Chef De Cuisine, Nicholas Elmi as they prepare for a dinner that they are co-hosting at Chef Elmi’s Philadelphia restaurant, Laurel. After they complete their prep in the early afternoon, they go down the block to a small coffee shop for lunch. After they order, Chef Perrier, looks around the busy shop and tells Chef Elmi, “I would lovff to own a place like diz, I just lovff it. I would really lovff having a place like diz.”