Pierre GRANGER

Chef : 1 restaurant After a first life in the French education system, Pierre Granger decided, at the dawn of his 30th birthday, to trade in his points for purchase orders.

Presentation

Among the Gault&Millau chefs who have gone into the restaurant business after retraining, few, like Pierre Granger, were CPEs (conseillers principaux d'éducation) in their first life. I got a master's degree in contemporary history before working for a few years as a contract teacher in various secondary schools in Burgundy," he explains. I certainly enjoyed it, but I came to realize that I wouldn't be a CPE for the rest of my life. So I decided to fulfill my childhood dream and take up cooking."

Six years of training

It was then 2011, and this son of a hunter and an excellent cook mother entered Jean-Michel Carrette's Aux Terrasses in Tournus. I stayed with Jean-Michel for three years, first under a professionalization contract, as a commis tournant, then chef de partie," he explains. I then wanted to take on a new challenge by joining Le Chapeau Rouge, in Dijon."

The big leap in 2017

During three years with William Frachot, Pierre Granger discovered a highly technical cuisine based on precise cooking, well-worked juices and the finest produce. At the end of these six years of high-level training, the ex-CPE felt ready to open his own restaurant. "That was obviously my goal when I decided to change my life. La Table de Fanny on rue de Strasbourg in Chalon-sur-Saône was up for sale. I jumped at the chance and opened La Forge, whose sign pays tribute to my father, an ironworker, in 2017. I'm alone in the kitchen, my wife alone in the dining room, and we stop at fifteen covers."

The clientele immediately adopted this new table set up in the "rue des restaurants". "My favorite dish? Without doubt the poultry liver cake, in an updated version, with a beautiful ivory sauce. It's a dish I adore!" And it earned him our Cuisine des Prairies et Pâturages 2024 trophy.