Changing Course

Is Jean Imbert the enfant terrible of haute cuisine? Or just the talented (not to mention handsome and social media-savvy) vanguard of a necessary evolution in French cooking?

- GABE ULLA

Those who do not follow France’s restaurant scene will be surprised to learn that Paris was struck by two earthquakes in the summer of 2021. The first was the announcement that Alain Ducasse, the chef who has amassed more Michelin stars than anyone in history, would be stepping away from his two establishments at the iconic Plaza Athénée on Avenue Montaigne. The second seismic event happened shortly thereafter: the revelation that a chef in his thirties, with no stars to his name but nearly half a million Instagram followers, would be taking Ducasse’s place.

What in the world was Jean Imbert doing on such hallowed ground?

In the majority opinion of the French food world establishment, it sounded as if he had been hired just to troll them. The naysayers could draw only one conclusion: The hotel’s desire to attract more business and a younger clientele had superseded its storied standards of cuisine. If that was indeed the case, they deserve some credit, for in France it would be hard to think of a better person for the job than Imbert, a baby-faced avatar of the social media age who was catapulted into the spotlight in 2012 after winning season three of the French version of Top Chef and who has ample experience launching buzzy restaurants. At the age of 22, Imbert opened his first establishment, a bistro in Paris’s 16th Arrondissement that lured a steady stream of celebrities. In recent years the chef has developed concepts with pal Pharrell Williams in Miami and for LVMH’s luxe property Cheval Blanc, in St. Bart’s. He has just unveiled his menu for Monsieur Dior, the new café in the highly anticipated reboot of the fashion house’s headquarters, just across the street from the Plaza Athénée.