Chewing the Fat: Chef Alain Ducasse of Adour DC
Alain Ducasse with Adour DC Chef Julien Jouhannaud (left) and wine director Ramon Narvaez (right). (Josh Novikoff).renowned Alain Ducasse was in town to re-launch the menu of his restaurant, Adour DC at the St. Regis. The hotel is now sans scaffolding, and the restaurant has made a few tweaks to make its menu more accessible. A handful of plates can now be ordered as half portions, including a deep red tuna tartare appetizer and a scallop entrée served with herb gratinated vongoles, like perfect baby buttons of clams casino. Cuts of meat such as a Flintstonian bone-in ribeye for two or a bargain priced hanger steak are on offer, with a spiced up spaghetti squash. And for dessert, we’d go with the silky hazelnut soufflé or anything else that comes with sorbets that embody the essence of their fruits.
Ducasse is an international culinary luminary who was awarded three Michelin stars by his 33rd birthday. Now he has an eponymous enterprise with oh, about two dozen or so unique restaurants to his name, a publishing house, a professional training program, an academy in Paris for non-professionals, and plans to work with the Clinton Global Initiative to train disenfranchised women. The man is a veritable figurehead of French cooking. He’s in charge of food service on the Eiffel Tower for goodness sake!
DCist sat down with Ducasse, Adour’s Executive Chef Julien Jouhannaud, and a translator to understand the life of a jet-setting legend and his relationship with his restaurants, and what makes him tick.
Can you talk about what it’s like to head an international restaurant empire?
It’s not an empire, I’m just sort of a craftsman—an artisan—because each restaurant is different, like a little atelier in itself. Yes. It’s the same idea because each restaurant develops our personality with a chef, management, with a sommelier. The idea is to understand perfectly, step-by-step the city where we are, to develop the place in harmony with customers, with Washingtonians in this case.
What is your relationship with Adour, for example? What interaction do you have with the restaurant? With the chef?
My corporate chef visits Washington every month for usually a week. He’s worked a long time with me. And Julien worked in Monte Carlo too. That’s the key to success. There’s that confidence and it’s a two-way street. They’ve also experienced the origins of Alain Ducasse’s footprint.
When you come to Adour or any of your restaurants, do you find yourself tweaking things here and there? What sort of interaction do you have when you come?
Ducasse: I criticize everything. I see everything. I’m never satisfied. It’s a constant evolution. Because Julien moves things and things progress constantly, I’m more and more pleased.
JJ: We’ll never be able to duplicate what we learn in Monaco because Monaco is a unique place. Even in Paris they cannot duplicate what they’re doing in Monaco. At least when we spend time like I did in Monaco a long time ago, when we learn all the technique and all the basics in Monaco, we have the real spirit of Chef Ducasse with us.
I’ve read about your philosophy that it’s about having your essence or you style wherever you are even though you’re not actually in the kitchen.
That’s why it’s always better when I’m here. It’s like a sport. I’m a trainer but I’m not the trainee.
Anything that you’d like to add to the enterprise? Anywhere else where you’d like to go as a chef?
My heart is really invested in mentorship and cooking schools for the general public but also for professionals. And also my publishing house, which allows that reference point for my chefs. The immediate focus for my company is to further the dissemination all of the experiences I’ve collected through my travels.
How much time do you get to spend in a kitchen these days?
JJ (interpreting for Ducasse): He’s the brand. We are the arms. He conceives of projects, what he would like to create.
Ducasse: I’m a director. I point the way, but I’m not a manager on a day-to-day basis. [Referring to the changing the model of a successful restaurant in Paris] That’s my job, that’s my job, that’s my job. To change and to decide a new way for one restaurant. To anticipate.
I understand the relationship with Adour and other restaurants. But do you ever get to cook home anymore on your own?
Yes, yes, yes. The problem is my commis at home. My wife. She questions every time I tell her to do something. So actually there’s a problem because the roles are reversed at home. I’m almost assisting her in the kitchen because she turns the tables. She says, “at home I’m the chef.”
What do you like to cook and what do you eat when you’re at home?
I go with what’s available at the market. I’ll choose beautiful fish and go out to my garden and farm in the southwest of France and pick some vegetables there. I like to cook simply. But before you clean and you peel vegetables and you clean the fish, after you finish to prepare a dish you clean the kitchen.
The ceilings in here are the originals from 1927. Why did you decide to go with a more modern design for the rest of the room?
Magnifique! If everything looked like the ceiling it would be too formal. You need the sommelier with the wine list. [in an exaggerated and stuffy American accent and puffed out chest] “Can you show us your wine?" Fin. You’re closed the next day. The restaurant would be shut down. Those elements, we put them in the museum. It’s over with.
Anything else to add about Adour, the cooking, the menu?
I feel great about Julien’s evolution here—Adour and Julien’s evolution. You always have to second guess. Never be satisfied with what you’ve done. Always push it further.