Other than Julia Child, Henri Charpentier was probably the most famous chef of the 20th century. He certainly accomplished more, and served more famous people than you can imagine. How did I even come to hear of this incredible chef? Well, my mom and I were deciding where to go for dinner one night, and we both felt like French food. She asked me if I knew who Henri Charpentier was, and I said I had never heard of him. She proceeded to tell me about his restaurant in Redondo Beach (in his home!) at the end of his illustrious career. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Henri was born in 1880 in Nice, France. Before coming to the U.S. in the early 20th century, he was chef at 9 of the most famous restaurants in the world, including Hotel de Paris (Monte Carlo), Maxim's (Paris), Tour d'Argent (Paris), Savoy (London) and many others. He cooked for the Prince of Wales (soon to be King), where he created crepes suzettes by accident. He was making a pancake dessert, and in the process, burned the sauce and flambed it, creating the famous dessert, and naming it after Suzette, a child who was eating with the Prince.
Henri came to the U.S., where among other things, he was the personal chef for John D. Rockefeller. They opened a restaurant together too. Henri opened numerous restaurants in New York and Chicago, before finally coming to California. He opened Henri's on the Sunset Strip, where he introduced Americans to Caesar salad. Finally, in his later years, he opened a restaurant in his home, in a nondiscript area of Redondo Beach. Customers were seated in the living room, with a maximum of 14. He did not think chefs needed a fancy restaurant to turn out fabulous food, and he proved that to be true. His restaurant was booked 1 year in advance. The cost of dinner in 1948 was $7 for a gourmet meal.
Loved learning about Henri Charpentier and sharing this information with you. I hope you enjoyed this blog.
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