Pierre REBOUL

Chef : 1 restaurant

Presentation

"In our family, we've been cooks for five generations. Only my father made a mistake: he was a dentist, but at least it was still a food business."Pierre Reboul laughs at this anecdote, but he always knew he'd be a restaurateur, like his grandfather, who ran the Hôtel de France in Châtel. like his grandfather, who ran the Hôtel de France in Châtillon-en-Diois, in the Drôme, or like his mother, who ran a bar-brasserie in Gap, the Chardon Bleu.

"Although I was born in Lyon, I quickly moved to Gap with my parents when I was still a baby. I grew up there, in the Hautes-Alpes. I did my apprenticeship with Michel Chabran in Pont-de-l'Isère, before joining Jacques Pic in Valence."Pierre Reboul then left the Rhône valley to move to Paris, to work for Philippe Legendre at Taillevent: "It was obviously very tough, but I learned a lot there. I then worked alongside Michel Rostang, at the Bistrot d'À Côté Flaubert, then in his 4 toques restaurant in the 17th arrondissement."

He was not yet 30 when, in 1998, he had the opportunity to buy the Rive Gauche in Tain-l'Hermitage. The good guidebooks soon took notice of this chef, whose "molecular" cuisine was sometimes mocked in his early days. By the time he had achieved 15/20 in our 2006 edition, he had sold his business to... Michel Chabran to join the luxurious Hostellerie du Vallon de Valrugues. "I didn't stay very long. The place didn't suit my philosophy. I quickly left to open my own restaurant, in the heart of Aix-en-Provence, where my very personal cuisine left no one indifferent."

Forcibly a little mellow -"I'm well into my fifties now"- Pierre Reboul has been flourishing since 2016 at the helm of the magnificent Château de la Pioline. "They let me work and do what I like. Customers are buying in, traffic is good and I'm slowly approaching that fourth toque, which is inevitably part of my goals."

F. T.

Biography & Awards

1971 Naissance à Villeurbanne, dans le Rhône

1986 Apprenti chez Michel Chabran

1998 Rachète le Rive Gauche, à Tain-l’Hermitage

2007 Ouvre Pierre Reboul, à Aix-en-Provence

2016 Chef du Château de la Pioline