The former chef of the restaurant The Côte Saint Jacques in Joigny (Yonne) Michel Lorain died Thursday at the age of 87, his son announced. “Papa left us!” What to say after that, words are in vain! The gorges are tight but I will try to open my heart to you and share our pain with you, ”his son Jean-Michel Lorain wrote on the Facebook account of the restaurant Relais et Châteaux La Côte Saint Jacques on Friday.
“Dad will have gone through his life at a run … 87 full and entire years”, adds the chef, who describes a father “always attentive and benevolent, but also without concession”. Michel Lorain had taken over the Côte Saint Jacques, restaurant founded by his mother in Joigny, in 1958 and had won his first star in the Michelin Guide in 1971. The second will arrive in 1976. With his son Jean-Michel by his side, he had obtained the third star in 1986.
The homage of the profession
Michel Lorain had retired in 1993. The Côte Saint Jacques, still at the helm of Jean-Michel Lorain, is currently classified two stars and also holds the green star rewarding the alliance “gastronomy and sustainability”. The former chef of the Elysee kitchens Guillaume Gomez sent his “sincere condolences to the whole Lorain family and to the teams” on Twitter.
Chef Michel Sarran has meanwhile shared a photo on Instagram where he appears alongside Michel Lorain, one of “those who (l) ‘built”. The mayor PS of Joigny Nicolas Soret greeted on Facebook an “ambassador of French gastronomy (who) will have been his life during an ambassador of our city”. “Michel Lorain will be missed by Joigny, who will long remain marked by his imprint,” he wrote.