Lucile VIGILANT

Pastry Chef : 1 restaurant As head pastry chef at Relais Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu, Lucile Vigilant is passionate about chocolate and has been trained at the Burgundy-based establishment since she started her career.

Presentation

For Lucile Vigilant (née Darosey), working in the restaurant industry was a natural choice. Born into a family of organic dairy farmers, she grew up working every weekend at one of her aunts’ farm-inns. Given this background, it was hard to resist her calling. “I naturally enrolled in the Poligny hospitality high school, where I earned a BT and then a BTS. At the time, I was more drawn to front-of-house work and interacting with customers. But after meeting a truly inspiring pastry instructor, I decided to pursue a specialized track in restaurant desserts.”

She met her future husband in the kitchens at Loiseau

Her teachers found her an internship at the Relais Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu. The young woman was brilliant and progressed quickly under the guidance of Benoît Charvet, the pastry chef. It was there that she met Louis-Philippe, with whom she would later be responsible for opening Loiseau des Ducs in Dijon, and that’s how she reimagined the entire range of pastries and chocolates offered at the shop opened in Saulieu by the Loiseau family.

In 2022, Louis-Philippe was called back to work alongside Patrick Bertron, Bernard Loiseau’s longtime right-hand man, whom he had succeeded in 2003, to prepare for the succession. At the start of the 2023 school year, Louis-Philippe took the reins of the restaurant, and Lucile joined him as pastry chef. “After a few adjustments during the first few months, we’ve found our footing and are happy that Loiseau has been able to retain its four toques.”