No other style of culinary arts has proliferated professional cooking the way French has, and at the top of this culinary ladder is celebrity chef Cyril Lignac. His rise to fame started in 2000 when he trained under celebrated chef Alain Passard at his restaurant The Arpeggio that has three Michelin stars. From there he went on to work for the Pourcel brothers at their two restaurants in 2001, the Maison Blanche and the Jardin Des Sens. In 2002 he worked for Pierre Hermé at his restaurant Korova and Alain Ducase’s Grande Cascade. In 2005 he opened his own restaurant in downtown Paris, Le Quinziéme Cuisine Attitude. Following its wild success, he opened another restaurant, Chardenoux, in 2008. Then in 2011 he opened a third restaurant, La Pâtisserie. In the same year he begun to sell bistro food in the Saint Germain quarter of Paris modeled after his restaurant Chardenoux, which he named Chardenoux des Pres.

To emphasize his blossoming fame, Chef Cyril made various appearances on television, specifically the French channel M6. His shows include M.I.A.M (Yummy), Oui Chef! (Yes Chef!), Le Chef en France (The Chef in France), Chef, la Recette! (Chef, the Recipe!), Vive la Cantine! (Live in Canteen!) Le Chef Contre Attaque (Chef Strikes) and Le Meilleur Pâtissier (The Best Pastry). He also played the voice of Lola in the French dubbing of Disney’s Ratatouille. Due to his wide spread publicity and successful restaurants, he was named GQ Magazine’s Chef of the Year.

Chef Lignac has also written seven extremely popular cookbooks, each including the recipes for some of his most well known dishes. One of his books, My Bistro Cookbook, includes many recipes from his restaurant Chardenoux. Along with his books he also has two magazines in print, the biweekly Cook by Cyril Lignac, and the bimonthly Cuisine by Cyril Lignac.