Thierry DI TULLIO

Chef de service : 2 restaurants

Presentation

As Thierry Di Tullio, now a renowned restaurant manager, puts it, you don't think about this kind of profession when you're young. "My mother used to cook a lot, and we used to have a lot of friends and family at home. It was thememory of those moments, of that shared joy, that motivated me to go into a service profession," he explains. Trained between 1982 and 1985 at the Hyères hotel school, he met Christian Farenasso, head chef at the Negresco. Thanks to him, he spent a season at L'Acacia d'Argent, then followed him to La Caravelle in Courchevel. "I remember being in a 3-star hotel, and I was a little disappointed not to be in one of the resort's top establishments, but I made it through the season, managed the catering and even replaced the bartender at a moment's notice."He then spent the summer as chef de rang at the Château de Faverges-de-la-Tour, before flying to New York to perfect his English. He worked for a year and a half in an Irish pub. Without a work visa, he was forced to return to France.

In 1992, Christian Farenasso offered him a position as manager of the Cassiopée restaurant at the Hôtel Antarès in Méribel. "It was the year of the Albertville Olympics, we opened the gastro and, two years later, we won several awards, including 2 toques and a 15/20 Gault&Millau."He stayed until 1998, when he was contacted by Jean-Claude Delion to join La Réserve de Beaulieu, in Beaulieu-sur-Mer. When the position of Restaurant Manager became unavailable, he moved to Paris to work with Hélène Darroze at her restaurant on rue d'Assas.

In 2008, he was offered the position of Restaurant Manager at La Résidence de La Pinède, now La Vague d'Or. "When I arrived, I met the young chef Arnaud Donckele, and we hit it off immediately. We really share the same values, the same philosophy and the same sensibility."This was to be the start of a wonderful adventure, culminating in a 19/20 Gault & Millau rating. The small house, bought by LVMH in 2016, joins the group and will take the name Cheval Blanc in 2019.

F.H.