Gilles Epié is a French chef who was the youngest chef in the world to receive a Michelin Star at the age of 22.[1] He was the owner and executive chef of Citrus Etoile restaurant in Paris near the Champs-Élysées which he operated with his wife Elizabeth from 2005 to 2017.[2] As of 2022, he works as the executive chef of L'Avant-Garde, a modern French brasserie in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.,[3] which was named one of the "Very Best Restaurants" by Washingtonian magazine.[4] He is a member of l'Académie culinaire de France.
Career
Born in Nantes, Epié started working at the age of 14 and trained with Alain Senderens and Alain Ducasse at Lucas-Carton in Paris.[5] He received his first Michelin Star in 1980 at Le Pavillon des Princes, near Paris.[6]
Epié worked at several other French restaurants, including La Vieille Fontaine near Paris where he received his second Michelin Star in 1983, his restaurant Le Miravile, receiving a third Michelin Star in 1986, and La Petite Cour in Saint-Germain-des-Pres, Paris.[7] In 1995, he left France for the United States.
Epié worked as head chef of the French restaurant L'Orangerie in Los Angeles, where he introduced a Provençal-inspired style of cooking. He was voted "Best Chef In America of 1996" by Food & Wine magazine.[6][8] He left in 1997 to operate the Beverly Hills restaurant Chez Gilles, which he purchased along with partner Jean Denoyer.[9] Epié prepared a dinner with U.S. presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford, as well as birthday parties for both Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren.[10]
In 2005 Epié returned to Paris with his wife after a promising location opened up near the Champs-Elysées. He opened the Citrus Etoile restaurant, named after his friend Michel Richard's Los Angeles restaurant, Citrus.[11] Citrus Etoile was selected as a member of the Châteaux & Hotels Collection - Tables Remarquables - and was included in Alain Ducasse's book, J'Aime Paris.[12][13] In 2012, he traveled with four other Michelin Star chefs on the MSC Splendida's Celebrity Chef cruises, and participated in the 25th anniversary celebration of Ducasse's Louis XV restaurant held in Monte Carlo.[14][15] In 2018, Epié returned to America.[16]
In April 2013, Epié opened Frenchy's, a Parisian-style brasserie within Charles de Gaulle Airport's International Terminal 2.[17] In 2015, he was the guest chef at La Clef des Champs restaurant in Mauritius for a French Gastronomic Week event.[18] In November 2016, Epié teamed up with Juan Jose Cuevas for the Guest Chef Dinner Series at the Vanderbilt Hotel in Puerto Rico, presenting a seven-course gastronomic menu.[19] In 2016, he was featured at the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour Dinner in Santa Barbara and received FestForums' Lifetime Achievement award.[20][21]
In 2018, Epié sold Citrus Etoile and became the corporate executive chef at Juvia, Miami Beach. He also participated in the James Beard Foundation's "Beach Chic" charity event in New York City in 2018.[16][22]
In February 2019, Epié was a guest chef at The Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival.[23] Later that year, he became the culinary director and executive chef of the Montage Beverly Hills Hotel. The restaurant was renamed Gilles@Montage Hotel and featured French-Californian cuisine.[24]
Television
Epié and his wife Elizabeth starred in two seasons of his reality documentary show in France for Canal+/Cuisine+, Dans La Vraie Vie D'un Grand Chef (In the Real Life of a Top Chef), which featured his restaurant Citrus Etoile.[25]
He also starred in two seasons of Un Frenchy en cuisine (A Frenchy in the Kitchen) which aired on Cuisine+ in 2015.[10][26]
