I’m a French-born Chicagoan who infuses my Provençal upbringing in the South of France with the energy of my adopted city. My cuisine and lifestyle are influenced by my rural childhood, as well as my penchant for incorporating simple, fresh and healthy ingredients.
My family made everything from scratch, mostly from what we grew and raised on my grand-parents’ 450+ year old farm – fruits from the orchards, vegetables from the gardens, cheese and milk from our goats, olive oil from the olive groves, grapes from our vineyards, chestnuts and walnuts from the indigenous trees. We gathered our wild herbs, mushrooms and truffles from the fertile, untamed lands surrounding our farm. We always had a variety of honey from the beehives placed among the wildflowers, lavender bushes and chestnut trees. Even our eggs, sometimes double yolk, were from our hen house.
The art of cultivating, harvesting and preserving along with the artisanal culinary preparations were transferred over generations of perfecting the techniques and adapting to evolving conditions.
The special times we shared on Sundays at the long dining table, for a three to four-hour lunch with my grand parents and relatives, remain among my fondest childhood memories as the epicenter of the foundation of relationships.
In my early adulthood, the cooking classes I took at the Ecole de Gastronomie Française at the Ritz in Paris influenced my preparation, technique and creative process. Over the years, I developed a sense of composition that allows me to envision a plate based on form and color to create visually tantalizing and appetizing meals. The heart of every one of my recipes lies in a harmony of colorful, fragrant, fresh and pure ingredients to instill natural beauty, health and wellbeing.
Since settling in Chicago, I’ve created a balanced lifestyle that flows with my philosophy of simple, natural living through savory dishes and fulfilling relationships. My journey is to combine these daily pleasures to live healthfully and beautifully, creating my own Art de Vivre.
Saveur Chic 