Thierry Rautureau

Thierry Rautureau
Occupation	Award-Winning Chef / Owner
Known for	Contestant on Top Chef Masters: Seasons 2 & 4 Co-Host of “In The Kitchen with Tom and Thierry” with Chef Tom Douglas
Website	www.thechefinthehat.com
Culinary career
Current restaurant(s) Loulay Kitchen & Bar Luc's Restaurant Rover's Restaurant
Award(s) won Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest from The James Beard Foundation (1998) Chevalier de l’Ordre Du Mérite Agricole from The French Government (2004)

Thierry Rautureau nicknamed The Chef In The Hat, is the chef/owner of restaurants, Loulay and Luc, in Seattle, Washington. Rautureau was born in the town Loulay in the Muscadet region of France. He apprenticed in Anjou, France, and at twenty moved to the United States to work at several fine restaurants. He became the chef/owner of Rover’s Restaurant in 1987, and before closing its doors in 2013; it helped make him one of the most recognizable chefs around Seattle. Rautureau has won various awards including the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest in 1998, and has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre Du Mérite Agricole by the French government. In 2010, Rautureau opened Luc, a French-American café and bar. Then in 2013, opened Loulay Kitchen & Bar, a French-inspired restaurant that balances the upscale aura of Rover’s with the cozy country-style cooking he enjoyed growing up on the farm in France. He has cooked for such well-known figures as Hillary Clinton, Francis Ford Coppola, Jackson Browne, and Julia Child.

Thierry Rautureau hails from the town of Saint Hilaire de Clisson in the Muscadet region of France. His parents were farmers in a small agricultural community where the cows and chickens outnumbered the people. The family cooked only what they grew, thus providing a purely seasonal diet. As the oldest child, Rautureau was given the chore of doing the prep for dinner; and as such he quickly became acquainted with fresh homegrown ingredients at a young age.

At fourteen, Rautureau started a cooking apprenticeship in Anjou, France and at sixteen went on a Regional Tour de France and trained in the cities of Le Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, Chamonix in the French Alps, and Hendaye in the Pays Basque. At twenty, after six years of traditional French training, Rautureau headed for the United States and took his professional experience to La Fontaine with Jean Claude Poilevey in Chicago. After three years in Chicago, Rautureau moved to Los Angeles where he worked at the Regency Club with Joachim Splichal, and then The Seventh Street Bistro with Laurent Quenioux.