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Antoine B. Beauvilliers (1754 – 31 January 1817) was a French
Gallica full textInternet Archive, full text
English translation, ''The Art of French Cookery'', London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824.
Antoine B. Beauvilliers (1754 – 31 January 1817) was a French restaurateur
A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...
who opened the first grand restaurant
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
in Paris and wrote the cookbook
A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes.
Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food.
Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...
''L'Art du Cuisinier''. Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin considers him the most important of the early restaurateurs, as "he was the first to have an elegant dining room, handsome well-trained waiters, a fine cellar and a superior kitchen." Beauvilliers is described as a "portly figure, his triple chin, his broad, joyous face, and the light that sparkles in his large grey eye." He dressed fashionably and carried a sword. His success was enhanced by his ability to "cater to and flatter rich patrons", attending to them personally and helping them with items on the menu; he had a prodigious memory and could recall a patron he had not seen in 20 years.
Career
Restaurateur
Of humble parentage, Beauvilliers worked his way up from kitchen boy to become the chef ofMonsieur
( ; ; pl. ; ; 1512, from Middle French , literally "my lord") is an honorific title that was used to refer to or address the eldest living brother of the king in the French royal court. It has now become the customary French title of resp ...
, the Count of Provence and future King Louis XVIII. Beauvilliers opened a restaurant called the La Grande Taverne de Londres in the Palais-Royal
The Palais-Royal () is a former royal palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal ...
, Paris, sometimes between 1782 and 1786. The restaurant was intended for a wealthy and aristocratic clientele; it had tables made of mahogany, crystal chandeliers, and tablecloths of fine linen, an extensive wine cellar, and elegantly-dressed waiters.Fierro, Alfred, ''Histoire et Dictionnaire de Paris'', p. 1137 Dishes on the restaurant menu included partridge with cabbage, veal chops grilled in buttered paper, and duck with turnips. The restaurant Beauvilliers became a rendez-vous of conservative political factions, in which Beauvilliers was implicated; in 1795 he was forced to close his establishment and to live away from the trade that was his life. When he reopened La Grande Taverne de Londres, at 26 rue de Richelieu, tastes had changed and he met with less success. The restaurant closed in 1825.
Cookbook writer
In 1814, he published the two-volume ''L'art du Cuisinier'', with a great number of illustrative engravings. It became a classic of Frenchgastronomic
Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...
literature. A second edition, with a supplement, appeared in 1821. An English translation, ''The Art of French Cookery'', was published in London in 1824.
Bibliography
* ''L'art du Cuisinier'', Paris: Pilet, 2 volumes in octavo, 181Gallica full text
English translation, ''The Art of French Cookery'', London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824.
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beauvilliers, Antoine Chefs from Paris French cuisine French restaurateurs French cookbook writers 1754 births 1817 deaths 18th century in France