Chef Alain Giraud
Born in Paris to a family of restaurateurs, Giraud credits his two grandmothers as his inspiration. After receiving his degree in the culinary arts at Nîmes Culinary School, he spent four years at l'Ermitage Meissonnier in Avignon, two years at the Hotel de Crillon, and two years at the Grand Vefour, in Paris. The three are considered to be among the country's most venerable restaurants and, at the time, the Michelin Guide rated each restaurant two stars. In 1986, Giraud won first prize at the Culinary Minervois contest. This led him to Provence, where he cooked at several restaurants, holding chef positions at the Hotel Imperator in Nîmes, Le Reverbere in Narbonne and Leonce in Florensac.
With 15 years of culinary experience behind him, Giraud arrived in the United States in 1988 settling in Los Angeles. In April of that year he joined Michel Richard at Citrus, quickly moving up to Chef de Cuisine. Together, they raised Citrus to the ranks of one of the country's most celebrated restaurants. In 1995, the Club Culinaire Français voted “Chef of the Year” Giraud.
Giraud moved to the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in February 1997 as Chef Director. There, in January 1998, he opened Lavande, a French Provencal restaurant. Shortly after opening, Lavande received glowing reviews from the Los Angeles Times and Gourmet Magazine, and was named one of the best new restaurants of 1998 by John Mariani of Esquire Magazine, as well as one of the ten best new restaurants of 1998 by Jonathan Gold of Los Angeles Magazine.
Giraud also has wide teaching experience. He taught his own cooking series at Citrus, at Let’s Get Cooking, at Sur la table and at Seasonal Table. One of his most gratifying experiences was as a guest chef at the Merci Julia event in 1991, where the foremost chefs in the US got together to honor Julia Child. In 1998 he cooked for the first time at the James Beard Foundation in New York. In 2000, Giraud received the Chef of the Year award from the CA Restaurant Writers Association. He's a proud, ongoing participant in community events such as SOS Taste of Nations and the Specials Olympics.
In 2002, Giraud launched Bastide in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times gave Bastide an unprecedented "* * * * " four star review. This was followed by the title of Chef of the Year by Bon Appetit Magazine. Bastide was named one of the ten best new restaurants of 2003 by Los Angeles Magazine, restaurant of the year by Angelino Magazine. In 2003 Giraud became the first Chef in the western United States to receive the prestigious French Gold Medal of Tourism.
In 2004, Giraud created his own company, Four Stars Private Cuisine, offering exclusive private dining, outstanding cooking classes, and expert consulting.
In 2008, in partnership with Mike Garrett and Tommy Stoilkovich he created Anisette a French brasserie in Santa Monica. Anisette was name one of the best restaurant of the year by the Los Angeles Magazine, Best dishes of the year by both LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Times.
In 2011 he created is first personal venture, Maison Giraud, in Pacific Palisades, a restaurant with a bakery combined with his wife, Catherine, first retail store of her company Lavender Blue. Along with his many years of expertise, Alain now focuses on providing unique culinary experiences in his private catering business and cooking classes.
Giraud maintains a philosophy that California is similar to Provence in many ways, “I find it the perfect place to create Provencal-style food that is light and creative, with a sunny accent”. On his adopted “Riviera” Giraud has also taken domestic life to heart with wife Catherine and children Camille and Antonin.