Antoine_Beauvilliers
Antoine Beauvilliers
French restaurateur
Antoine B. Beauvilliers (1754 – 31 January 1817) was a French restaurateur who opened the first grand restaurant in Paris[1] and wrote the cookbook L'Art du Cuisinier.[2] Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin considers him the most important of the early restaurateurs, as "he was the first to have an elegant dining room, handsome well-trained waiters, a fine cellar and a superior kitchen."[3] Beauvilliers is described as a "portly figure, his triple chin, his broad, joyous face, and the light that sparkles in his large grey eye."[4] He dressed fashionably and carried a sword.[5] His success was enhanced by his ability to "cater to and flatter rich patrons", attending to them personally and helping them with items on the menu; he had a prodigious memory and could recall a patron he had not seen in 20 years.[5]