NICHOLAS ANGELO
FINE ART

THE PERFECTIONIST

Life and Death in Haute Cuisine

Rudolph Chelminski

Book Description: Gotham Books, New York, 2005

Hardbound - Red & White Board/Red Lettering

Stated First Printing, May 2005

Book Condition:  Very Good/Lightly Bumped Spine

Dust Jacket Condition:  Very Good/Unclipped

Lightly Bumped Spine/Slightly Soiled

Photographic Illustration Sections

Octavo

354 Pages

 Bernard Loiseau was one of only 25 French chefs to hold Europe's highest culinary award, three stars in the Michelin Red Guide, and was personally awarded the Legion of Honor by the president of the republic. Nine out of every ten French citizens knew his name. Yet he shocked the culinary world by taking his own life in February 2003—the GaultMillau guidebook had recently dropped its ratings of Loiseau's restaurant, and he may have heard he was on the verge of losing a Michelin star (a rumor that proved to be untrue). Rudolph Chelminski, who befriended Loiseau in his youth and remained his close compatriot, offers this insider's account of the chef and of the intense world of gastronomic France.