Pierre Chambrin

Pierre Chambrin (born September 13, 1947) was the White House Executive Chef from 1989 to 1994.[1]

Pierre Chambrin
Chambrin preparing Easter eggs for the
South Lawn Easter Egg Roll, 1993
Born (1947-09-13) September 13, 1947
Paris, France
NationalityFrench American
EducationEcole des Metiers de l'alimentation
Culinary career
Cooking styleFrench

Early life and career

Chambrin was born in Paris[2] on September 13, 1947.[3] He received his culinary education at the Ecole des Metiers de l'alimentation, which he attended from 1961 to 1963. He moved to the United States in 1969 and opened a restaurant in Massachusetts.[2] In 1979 Chambrin took over the Washington, D.C. restaurant Maison Blanche, located near the White House.[4]

White House

Chambrin was appointed under the presidency of George H. W. Bush to succeed Hans Raffert. Under the Clinton administration, a group of prominent American chefs, led by Alice Waters, sent a letter to the White House urging an appointment of a chef who would "promote American cooking,"[5] although Chambrin stated that he was already using American ingredients and that his first concern was food quality.[6] Ruth Reichl defended the chef in an article in the Los Angeles Times, calling him "enthusiastic about just about everything organic, and so excited by the idea of seasonality," and pointing out that it was not the norm for new administrations to appoint a new chef.[7] In March 1994, however, Chambrin resigned after a push from the administration to impose newer health standards, specifically using food with less fat, a standard that Chambrin was unwilling to conform to.[1] It was widely reported that he was asked to resign, although he says that this is not the case and it was his own decision.[8] Chambrin's staff of three chefs left the White House with him. He was succeeded by Walter Scheib.[9]

Later career

After leaving the White House, Chambrin became the executive chef at the Saint Louis Club in St. Louis, Missouri.[10][11] The Maitres Cuisiniers de France named him "Chef of the Year" in 2008, and the Academie Culinaire de France bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award on him in 2013.[11]

Personal life

Chambrin has been married to his wife Linda since 1977 and has two children Sabrina (John) Jureidini and Pierre (Giselle) Chambrin and three grandchildren. [3] He became a United States citizen in 1977.[12]

References
  1. Burros, Marian (March 5, 1994). "High Calories (and Chef!) Out at White House". The New York Times. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
  2. "Under the Toque-Pierre Chambrin". The Chef's Connection. 13 January 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
  3. Parseghian, Pamela (April 25, 1994). "Pierre Chambrin: White House was not the RIGHT house". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
  4. "Maison Blanche's New Decade". The Washington Post through Highbeam Research (subscription required). Washington, D.C. October 22, 1989. Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  5. Bernstein, Carl (2008). A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 272–273. ISBN 978-0-307-38855-1.
  6. Burros, Marian (December 9, 1992). "First Chef: American, Perhaps?". The New York Times. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
  7. Reichl, Ruth (January 7, 1993). "Hail to the Chef". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
  8. "He Got Out of the Kitchen". People. March 21, 1994. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
  9. Scheib, Walter (2007). White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. pp. 10. ISBN 978-0-471-79842-2.
  10. Froeb, Ian (April 21, 2008). "St. Louis Club Chef Wins the "Silver Toque"". Riverfront Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
  11. Sorrell, Matt (June 6, 2013). "A St. Louis Classic: Chef Pierre Chambrin of the Saint Louis Club". Ladue News. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  12. Ochoa, Laurie (August 22, 1996). "Taking Her Revolution Beyond the Kitchen". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
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