Alain Ducasse Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Alain Ducasse
Alain at Identità Golose Conference 2010
Born	(1956-09-13) 13 September 1956 (age 68) Orthez, France
Cooking style	French cuisine
Rating(s) Michelin stars AA Rosettes
Current restaurant(s) Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester Le Louis XV Restaurant Le Meurice Alain Ducasse BEIGE Alain Ducasse Alain Ducasse at Morpheus Blue by Alain Ducasse MUNI ALAIN DUCASSE Benoit (Paris)
Previous restaurant(s) Essex House, New York City

Alain Ducasse (born 13 September 1956) is a famous chef from France who later became a citizen of Monaco. He runs many restaurants, including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, which has the top rating of three stars in the important Michelin Guide.

Becoming a Chef
Running Restaurants Around the World
Awards and Achievements
Monaco Citizenship
His Many Businesses
Michelin-starred restaurants associated with Alain Ducasse and their highest rating
Images for kids
See also

Becoming a Chef

Ducasse was born in Orthez, a town in southwestern France. He grew up on a farm, which might have helped him learn about fresh ingredients. When he was just sixteen in 1972, he started learning to cook as an apprenticeship at a restaurant called Pavillon Landais. He also studied at the Bordeaux hotel school.

After his first training, he worked with other well-known chefs like Michel Guérard and Gaston Lenôtre. In 1977, he became an assistant to the legendary chef Roger Vergé at Moulin de Mougins. Here, he learned the special cooking styles from the Provence region, which he became famous for.

In 1980, Ducasse got his first job as a head chef at L'amandier in Mougins. Just one year later, he became the head chef at La Terrasse in the Hôtel Juana. By 1984, his restaurant was awarded two stars in the Michelin Red Guide, which is a big honor for chefs. Sadly, in the same year, Ducasse was in a serious plane crash but was the only person to survive.

Running Restaurants Around the World

Alain Ducasse (center) with other chefs at a cooking conference.

In 1986, Ducasse was asked to be the chef at the famous Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo in Monte Carlo. This included managing the hotel's top restaurant, Le Louis XV. He made sure all the hotel's food places were running perfectly.

Ducasse didn't stop at just running restaurants. In 1988, he opened La Bastide de Moustiers, a charming country inn in Provence. He also started investing in other hotels. A big moment came on 12 August 1996, when his own restaurant, Alain Ducasse, opened in Paris. It was so good that it earned three Michelin stars in just eight months!

In 2000, Ducasse brought his cooking to the United States, opening the Alain Ducasse restaurant in New York City. This restaurant also earned three Michelin stars in 2005. This made him the first chef to have three restaurants with three Michelin stars at the same time! Later, he opened other restaurants in places like Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.

A very special event happened on 2 July 2011, when Ducasse cooked a huge gala dinner for the wedding of Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock. It was the first time he had cooked an official meal for a head of state.

Awards and Achievements

Alain Ducasse is known for being the first chef to have restaurants with three Michelin Stars in three different cities. He has also written many cookbooks and has influenced many chefs. He is one of only two chefs to have earned a total of 21 Michelin stars throughout his career, which is an amazing achievement!

He has even appeared as a special guest on the US and Italian versions of MasterChef. In 2013, he received the Lifetime Achievement award from The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, recognizing his long and successful career. In 2022, he was named one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality by the International Hospitality Institute.

Monaco Citizenship

Alain Ducasse was born a French citizen. On 17 June 2008, he became a citizen of Monaco. He chose to become a Monegasque citizen.

His Many Businesses

Alain Ducasse's businesses include his many restaurants, cooking schools, cookbooks, and even consulting work. He has cooking schools for both the public and for professional chefs. His chef school even works with the European Space Agency to create special meals for astronauts to eat in space!

He has opened many restaurants around the world. Some of them include:

Restaurant Le Meurice, Alain Ducasse (Paris, France)
Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee (Paris, France)
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester (London, UK)
Aux Lyonnais (Paris, France)
Beige (Tokyo, Japan)
Benoit (Paris, France) – a type of casual French restaurant called a bistro
Esterre (Tokyo, Japan) – a fine dining restaurant
Le Jules Verne (Eiffel Tower, Paris, France)
Le Louis XV (Monaco)
Rivea (Saint-Tropez, France)
Sapid (Paris, France)

In 2017, he announced plans to open two new restaurants and a bar at the Morpheus Hotel in Macau.

Michelin-starred restaurants associated with Alain Ducasse and their highest rating

Alain Ducasse has been involved with many restaurants that have earned Michelin stars. Here is a list of some of them and the highest rating they achieved:

No.	Name	Country
1	Le Louis XV - Alain Ducasse à l'Hôtel de Paris	Monaco
2	Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester	England
3	Restaurant Le Meurice Alain Ducasse	France
4	Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée	France
5	Alain Ducasse at Essex House	United States
6	Alain Ducasse au Hôtel Le Parc	France
7	BEIGE	Japan
8	ADOUR	USA
9	La Terrasse	France
10	Alain Ducasse at Morpheus	Macau
11	Blue by Alain Ducasse	Thailand
12	Benoit Paris	France
13	MUNI Alain Ducasse	Japan
14	LA TERRASSE	Japan
15	La Grand Contrôle	France
16	La Bastide de Moustiers	France
17	Benoit Tokyo	Japan
18	Le Jules Verne	France
19	IDAM by Alain Ducasse	Qatar