Le Bec-Fin is a French

French cuisine

French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...

 restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 which opened in 1970. Owner and founder Georges Perrier named the restaurant after the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 colloquialism for "Fine Palate". The restaurant has been rated as America's finest French restaurant and the Mobil Travel Guide

Restaurant rating

Restaurant ratings identify restaurants according to their quality, using various notations such as stars or other symbols, or numbers. Stars are a familiar and popular symbol, with ratings of one to four or five stars commonly used. Ratings appear in guidebooks as well as in the media, typically...

 has traditionally rated it as five stars. Perrier announced in July 2010 that he planned to close the restaurant in Spring 2011. In late December 2010, he announced he would not close and keep the restaurant open.

History

Perrier trained at La Pyramide

La Pyramide

La Pyramide was a Michelin Guide 3-star restaurant located in Vienne, Isère, France. It was widely believed to be the best restaurant in France while its owner Fernand Point was alive....

 in Vienne

Vienne, Isère

Vienne is a commune in south-eastern France, located south of Lyon, on the Rhône River. It is the second largest city after Grenoble in the Isère department, of which it is a subprefecture. The city's population was of 29,400 as of the 2001 census....

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. He moved to the USA on November 17, 1967, at the age of 21, and started working in Philadelphia in the late 1960s. After its opening in 1970 (Perrier was 23), Le Bec-Fin soon established a reputation as Philadelphia's finest restaurant with Perrier's Galette de Crabe and Quenelles de Brochet as signature highlights. By 1981, Le Bec-Fin was known as the leader of the "Philadelphia restaurant revolution". Esquire

Esquire (magazine)

Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...

described it as the best French restaurant in America and a 1994 Condé Nast

Condé Nast Publications

Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps...

reader's poll ranked it as the best restaurant in the country.

Le Bec-Fin signature crab cake recipe can be found online, but is also featured in Georges Perrier's 1997 book, titled Le Bec-Fin Recipes. Perrier's cuisine favors traditional French ingredients with high quality produce from throughout the world. The wine list favors selections from the borders of France and some standouts from the new world. Christophe Tassan is the master sommelier.

Perrier made extensive changes to the restaurant after the Mobil Travel Guide reduced it to four star status in the 2001 Mobil Travel Guide. The interior was remodeled, the wine list expanded, and Perrier relinquished command of his restaurant to the head chef. Said Perrier to his staff, "Change everything but the chandeliers." In the 2003 guide, the fifth star was restored.

On April 4, 2008 Le Bec-Fin gave up its 5 star rating in favor of a more relaxed atmosphere. This loss drops the number of American 5 star restaurants to 16. The change to a more relaxed atmosphere includes à la carte dining as opposed to a price fixed menu with strict seating schedule.

In January 2009, the French government awarded Perrier the Legion d'Honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

.

Signaling the end of an era, the one in which Le Bec-Fin started the 'Restaurant Renaissance' of Philadelphia, Georges Perrier put the building up for sale. Denying it at first, Chef and owner Georges Perrier finally admitted the fate of the restaurant. During New Year's Eve dinner at the restaurant, however, he announced to diners that he would, in fact, keep the restaurant open.

External links

• Le Bec-Fin Restaurant
• Food and Wine "Putting Le Bec Fin to the test" July 2005 retrieved 18 December 2005
• Le Bec-Fin 2 Part Video Series at The Classic Wines Minute
• Recent Review with Pictures