Lyon (AFP)

Pierre Troisgros, who became famous with his brother Jean for having revolutionized cuisine and made the family hotel-restaurant in Roanne a monument of gastronomy, died Wednesday at the age of 92, Patrice Laurent told AFP , director of Maison Troisgros.

"Pierre Troisgros died at his home in Coteau (near Roanne, editor's note) at the start of the afternoon," said Mr. Laurent, who has worked for the family house for 30 years.

"His son Michel and his wife went there and are in shock," he added, confirming information from the regional daily Le Progrès.

After the Lyonnais Paul Bocuse, to whom he was very close, and the Poitevin Joël Robuchon, who died in 2018, it is a new sacred monster of French haute cuisine who is taking his bow.

"The crew has a heavy heart this evening. We learn of the death of chef Pierre Troisgros who was the traveling companion of Mr. Paul for 70 years of an extraordinary friendship", the team quickly reacted in a tweet. Paul Bocuse restaurant.

Born on September 3, 1928, this man with the invariable mustache and a good-natured smile was brought up with his older brother Jean in the taste of good food by his parents, at the head of the Modern Hotel in Roanne.

The two brothers were trained in the best restaurants and worked to obtain a first star in 1955. The restaurant became Les Frères Troisgros, with Pierre in the kitchen, Jean as master saucier and their father Jean-Baptiste in the dining room and in the restaurant. cellar.

Practicing an innovative, creative but simple and sometimes light cuisine, Pierre indulges in original combinations of flavors that foreshadow the New Cuisine, of which the Troisgros brothers will be, with Michel Guérard in particular, forerunners.

The second star was awarded to the Roanne house in 1965 and the third in 1968.

That same year, Christian Millau qualified it as "the best restaurant in the world", which the Zagat guide also did in 2007.

When Jean suddenly died in 1983, Pierre's second son, Michel, born in 1958, joined his father in the kitchen, before taking up the torch.

He now works with his son, César, representative of the fourth generation of Troisgros, in the restaurant installed since February 2017 in Ouches, in the countryside, about ten kilometers from Roanne.

The family also opened a brasserie-grocery store in Roanne and an inn in Iguerande, in Saône-et-Loire.

© 2020 AFP