• Sobs, surprises, a slap or a costume, the third star obtained by Alexandre Mazzia was accompanied by highlights this week.

  • His triple star jacket posed and his Air Jordan on his feet, the Marseille restaurateur unveils them at 

    20 Minutes

    .

A third star all in surprise, and in anecdotes. Alexandre Mazzia returns for

20 Minutes

to this very special Michelin Guide ceremony, linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, but above all to its consecration: he is the only chef to obtain a third star this year. Installed in his restaurant AM, in the 8th arrondissement of Marseille, Air Jordan shoes on his feet, the former basketball player receives us with that big smile that never leaves him. His jacket with the three stars placed next to it.

“Gwendal Poullennec [the director of the Michelin Guide] asked me to shoot a video to highlight my territory, and had me come [to Paris] to talk about my experience at the new two stars. I thought we were going to get a green star [establishment rewarded for their sustainable approach to gastronomy]. When I see that the two promoted two stars are there, and that I am alone, I tell myself that it may be possible for this third star. I go into the hall and I fall in tears, Pierre Hermé and Pierre Gagnaire comfort me and a lady comes to pick me up. When I arrive, Gwendal asks me questions about the graduates, I go straight down and say to myself: "What a bastard to have believed it!" And there, I look up and I see on the screen that AM has the 3rd star and they bring me the jacket.It was a crazy thing. I had to say to Gwendal "but you're eggs, but you're a rascal", or something. "

He surprises his wife and then his team

An immense joy that he immediately shares with his wife, by having her come to the Eiffel Tower [where the ceremony took place on Sunday before it was broadcast on Monday].

Hidden in a room with his new jacket with the three stars.

"I waited for them 45 minutes, I could do more, but I could not tell him by phone," he laughs.

And an emotional lift shared with his teams.

"Sunday night they wrote me 'So, boss?'

to ask me for the third star.

I invented an award for them that we had won, the innovation trophy, and the green star.

They replied: "Thank you chef, good evening", as if they were disgusted.

And the next day, we watched the ceremony all together at the restaurant and there they took a slap when they saw the third star.

There were screams, tears, smiles.

It was a great day, we forget the everyday, ”he says.

"They are all perched"

Since then, his teams have been on cloud nine.

“They're all perched.

When you ask Marco [his pastry chef and sidekick for 12 years] a question, he answers the first one while you already ask him the second.

The wife of my diver Abdou called me to thank me.

He couldn't be there on Monday, so he came on Thursday.

He really came in costume, since then he walks with ", jokingly, full of affection, Alexandre Mazzia.

After a weekend filled with interviews for a whole series of media, Alexandre Mazzia will return to Marseille to cook in his Michel food-truck, which he put on hiatus during this crazy week.

But what does it change a third star?

“Everyone asks me, and I tell them that it doesn't change anything for me.

Rather, it is the gaze of others that changes.

"

Gastronomy

Michelin Guide 2021: Marseillais Alexandre Mazzia wins the race for the stars

Gastronomy

Marseille: The three-star chef Alexandre Mazzia treats his food-truck "Michel"

  • Marseilles

  • Michelin Guide

  • Gastronomy

  • Restaurant

  • Food