November 2021: JEAN VERGNES' ELUSIVE AND WELL-SEASONED LEGACY
Ten months have passed since The Kitchen Scholar honored a pioneering chef, and November is another perfect time to remember and celebrate another culinary legend of the kitchen, who would have also gone centenarian, had he still been alive. The recipient of this month’s tribute is former Le Cirque proprietor and executive chef, Jean Vergnes (pronounced VAIR-nyuh).
With his affiliation to Le Cirque overshadowing his other impressive credentials, the spirit of Jean Vergnes’ life and legacy actually deserves more than an in-depth introduction and appreciation. Unfortunately, the American media zeitgeist towards the low visibility status of chefs and the consequential public domain archives could only reveal less than substantial information. His obscurity in the current sphere can also be attributed to his personal choice of keeping a low-key profile beyond his out-of-print 1987 memoir and only cookbook, A Seasoned Chef, and the seldom-but-glowing mentions of him in other autobiographies and tell-alls of the American food revolution. His retirement from the profession in 1988 did not help either and only made his imprint all the more elusive and reductive. In hindsight, one could only wonder and wish for a more prolific bibliography of his expertise or frequent public television appearances within the last twenty years of his private life.
Born the youngest of three children to a railroad trackman and housewife on November 29, 1921, Jean Ulysee Vergnes hails from the Isérois farming village of Rives. Upon the encouragement of his uncle and aunt, whom he assisted in their own bistro kitchen, Jean quitted schooling at 13 to immerse in a two-year culinary apprenticeship in Grenoble. By 1937, he relocated to Paris for further Escoffian training at the grand luxe restaurant Hôtel Raphaël only to be cut short by Nazis sieging and seizing the French capital in 1941 and whisking him to work at the iron ore mines of Longwy. Two years later, he successfully escaped from their clutches by stealing and disguising himself in a German officer’s uniform and joined the French Resistance. After the war and liberation of France, Jean resumed his trade by rotating around different Parisian restaurants and French resorts.
Although Denmark and Bermuda were his first taste of international exposure, Jean migrated to the United States permanently when a son of the Grenobloise restaurant owner whom he apprenticed under tracked and recruited him to cook at New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria. Disgusted at the wastage and kitchen operations of the American restaurant-hotel system running against his upbringing by the French brigade de cuisine, he only lasted three weeks and accepted the job offer of executive chef position at another prestigious Manhattan restaurant, The Colony, wherein he developed signature and award-winning dishes like Suprême de Volailles Gismonda, Seafood Crêpes, and Clams Blinis. Under his guidance and mastery of haute cuisine, The Colony transformed into a high-society dining magnet that rivalled Le Pavillon with regard to the superior quality of food and menus.
Jean returned to the restaurant business after a nine-year break, first, at the casual Maxwell’s Plum, and finally, at the elegant Le Cirque, the latter of which he opened and co-owned alongside Sirio Maccioni, an erstwhile colleague and maître d'hôtel at The Colony. Le Cirque became a runaway success, not just winning back faithful patrons of The Colony and garnering acclaim from food critics but also solidifying its legendary status and influence to modern American fine dining. Jean’s enthusiasm and drive on cooking and leading the kitchen of Le Cirque would be fleeting though, and he sold his stake to Sirio due to irreconcilable philosophical differences in business management and permanently abandoned his restaurateur dreams four years later for personal and undisclosed commitments, such as restaurant consultancy and product development.
As mentioned above, little information about Jean Vergnes’ last 23 years is known after the publication of A Seasoned Chef and his post-retirement. Pierre Franey mentions Jean in passing on the epilogue of his 1994 memoir, A Chef’s Tale, wherein the latter moved next door to the former’s house in East Hampton, New York. The last living update on the well-seasoned chef dates back to 2010 blog entries by his poet son, Roger, citing the poor and declining health of his father from the previous year. Jean died peacefully on the early morning of April 22, 2010 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Personality-wise, contemporaries and colleagues have nothing negative to say about Jean Vergnes, and his memoir clearly reflects his affable personality. He kept his positivity and free-spirited attitude when he was a prisoner of war. In his twelve years of supervising and mentoring the kitchen staff of The Colony, only one out of the twenty-seven subordinates left because he was caught stealing merchandise. If Jean senses tension according to Pierre Franey, he would resort to an impromptu song or laughter. Jacques Pépin remembers him fondly as a jolly and unpretentious fellow. Sirio Maccioni describes him as a nice person and the perfect choice because he knew that good food does not require complexities in cooking.
Jean Vergnes’ life and legacy is a paradox of sorts. His fifty years of culinary experience leaves behind a well-seasoned legacy rich in knowledge and joy, but the element of time in the digital age has eluded him of his actual placement in the current gastronomic landscape. For this reason, The Kitchen Scholar will commemorate Jean Vergnes’ centennial this month by featuring the recipes from A Seasoned Chef in hopes that revisiting his passion for food can still reveal a justice worth cooking for.
