Eric Ripert

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**Eric Ripert**

Born	1965 Antibes, France
Cooking style	Seafood, French
Education	Culinary school in Perpignan, France
Restaurants	Le Bernardin (New York City)

Eric Ripert (rih-pair') (born 1965 in Antibes, France) is a French chef working in New York City. He was raised in France and learned to cook at a young age from his grandmother. When he was young, his family moved to Andorra, Spain, just over the border, but he later returned to France and attended culinary school in Perpignan. In 1982 he moved to Paris to work at La Tour d'Argent, a famous restaurant that is more than 400 years old, where he worked for two years. Next, Ripert worked at Jamin and was soon promoted to Assistant Chef de Partie. In 1985 Ripert left to fulfill his military service, after which he returned to Jamin as Chef Poissonier.

In 1989, Ripert came to the United States and got a job as a sous chef in the Watergate Hotel's Jean Louis restaurant. He stayed for two years before moving to New York City to work for David Bouley in 1991, where he stayed for just a few months before being offered a job at Le Bernardin. In 1994, Ripert became Le Bernardin's executive chef after Gilbert Le Coze died unexpectedly of a heart attack. The following year, Ripert earned a four-star rating from the New York Times, and the year after (in 1996) he became a part-owner.

Ripert is the Chair of City Harvest’s Food Council, and President of the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation. He has been a guest chef at the French Embassies in Mexico and Venezuela and for the New York City Ballet.

[edit] Books

Le Bernardin Cookbook (co-authored with Maguy Le Coze) (1998), ISBN 0-385-48841-6
A Return to Cooking (co-authored with Michael Ruhlman) (2002), ISBN 1-57965-187-9