Bernard Loiseau

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Bernard Loiseau (January 13, 1951 – February 24, 2003) was a French chef.

He was born in Chamalières. He decided to become a chef as a teenager, apprenticing at the famous restaurant Troisgros run by the brothers Jean and Pierre Troigros in Roanne between 1968 and 1971. In 1972, he began working for Claude Verger at La Barrière de Clichy, and was soon hailed as a prodigy by the Gault Millau guide, a proponent of the nouvelle cuisine style that emphasized lightness and freshness in contrast to the cuisine classique of traditional French gastronomy. When Verger bought the formerly prestigious La Côte d'Or of Saulieu in 1975, he installed Loiseau as chef and soon stood aside to allow him to develop a highly personal style of cuisine. Loiseau bought La Côte d'Or from Verger in 1982, and the well known Michelin Guide bestowed the coveted 3-star rating on his establishment in 1991. His fanatic attention to detail, frenetic work ethic and discerning palate propelled him to the top of his profession and earned him a knowledgable and loyal but unforgiving and demanding clientèle.

Bernard Loiseau established Bernard Loiseau SA in 1998, and was the first star restaurateur to establish the concept of having one's restaurant incorporated and traded. The French government awarded him the decorations of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, Officier de l'ordre national du Mérite and Chevalier du Mérite agricole.

In the late 1990s a new form of Asian-inspired "fusion cuisine" swept France, catering to an international corporate class and pleasing trend-driven "foodies" (a neologism of the movement)— which Loiseau resisted. The prevailing notion, however, was that the pre-eminent Loiseau's grip was slipping - that his cuisine and philosophy was being superseded by newer trends.

Bernard Loiseau shot himself in the head on February 24, 2003, after the Gault Millau restaurant guide downgraded his restaurant from 19 to 17 points out of 20 in an unprecedentedly harsh move. There were also rumors that Michelin had been planning to downgrade Loiseau's establishment from three to two stars, although it later emerged that Michelin had not been planning to do so.

Now in the hands of Bernard Loiseau's successor Patrick Bertron, "La Côte d'Or" maintains its three Michelin stars as of 2006.