Jean SÉVÈGNES

Chef : 1 restaurant

Presentation

"Making food was sacred at home," says Jean Sévègnes. Born in 1980, he grew up in a family where bread and food in general had a special place, as did the relationship with the land. Quite naturally, the young man initially set his sights on a career as a farmer or forest ranger. But the year he turned 14, a restaurant was looking for a dishwasher. Day by day, his vocation grew. In 1996, he began his training in Souillac (Lot). During these four years, two people helped forge his passion: Richard Filippi, who pushed him into a professional bac, and Alexis Pelissou, who changed his vision of cooking.

In 2000, Jean Sévègnes began his professional career by helping to open Alain Ducasse's Spoon restaurant in London. In 2001, he moved to Hélène Darroze's kitchens, where he met his future partner, Roxane Thomas, before moving to Monaco in 2002. There, he worked at Alain Ducasse's Bar & Bœuf, then at the Louis XV, orchestrated by Franck Cerutti: "It was a revelation. I went from 'making food' to 'cooking'" , he explains. In 2004, Jean Sévègnes joined Bernard Pacaud's restaurant L'Ambroisie, and the following year joined Les Crayères in Reims, where he was Didier Elena's sous-chef.

In 2009, he became head chef at La Chèvre d'Or, in Èze (Alpes-Maritimes), before flying to New York at the end of 2010, where he worked for Alain Ducasse's Adour. In 2012, he returned to Hélène Darroze's team in Paris, where he was Executive Chef until 2016, when he joined Ladurée as Executive Chef. During this period, Jean Sévègnes can only conclude that he no longer really cooks: "I first chose this profession to make food," he likes to remind us. In 2019, he and his wife Roxane opened the Café des Ministères: "We're just here to make people happy". Gault&Millau awarded him a 13/20 (2 toques) rating in 2023.

T.L.