Jacques BERTRAND

Chef : 1 restaurant Chef Jacques Bertrand has just celebrated the 35th anniversary of Les Cèdres, a fine family-run inn near Romans-sur-Isère, which has been awarded 3 toques.

Presentation

The Bertrand family are restaurateurs. Grandfather a chef, father and mother hotel-restaurateurs, brother a restaurant manager ..."Ever since I was born, I've been in the kitchen", admits Jacques Bertrand. His parents' encouragement to choose a different profession did nothing to change his mind. "When my father asked me what I wanted to do, I told him 'like you'," he rec alls.

So, as soon as he could, Jacques Bertrand went to school with one of their neighbors, Jacques Pic, in Valence. Then came the time for military service, which was quickly cut short. "After a few months at the family restaurant in Grand-Serre (Drôme), the young chef went back to training. This time, he joined the Gleize family at La Bonne Étape, in Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence). "But my father broke his ribs and his leg..." Back to Grand-Serre.

Until the day his brother Jean-Paul tells him that a nearby establishment is for sale. That's how the two brothers bought Les Cèdres, in Granges-les-Beaumont. "I remember the date very well: it was July 15, 1988, the day I turned 21", and the Bertrand family has been running this top-flight restaurant for the past thirty-five years, winning 3 toques.

I.B.