After Jean-Georges

Appears in
Gabriel Kreuther: The Spirit of Alsace
Gabriel Kreuther

By Gabriel Kreuther

Published 2021

  • About
In 2002 a headhunter contacted me. I told them I was happy where I was, still cooking the dynamic food that had made JG the phenom that he was ever since arriving at Lafayette in Manhattan in 1986. He’d been a good friend and mentor to me. I had no intention of leaving him.

But the headhunter was persistent and finally revealed the offer. It was from the Ritz-Carlton, which was opening a new hotel on one of the most prestigious streets in the city, Central Park South. They wanted me to open a new restaurant in their hotel called Atelier. This was a tempting offer—my own restaurant. But I felt that I couldn’t abandon Jean-Georges, who’d been so good to me, giving me my footing in New York City and the opportunity to lead his kitchen.