Pierre Adrian

Early life and education

Pierre Adrian was born around 1926 in Fouchy, Alsace, France, where his parents ran a grocery store. He began his culinary training as an apprentice at 14, passed a cook certification at 17, and became a professional cook at 21, later earning his chef certification. During World War II, at 16, he was forced into the German army for three years. After learning his family had escaped to safety behind American lines, he deserted and joined the French underground. In 1945 he enlisted in the French army and was honorably discharged.

Career

By age 23 Adrian was head chef at the Hotel du Faucon in Thun; according to his obituary he was at the time the youngest head chef in Switzerland. He moved to New York in 1951 at age 25 with only $30 to take a position at the Sherry-Netherland. He moved to Cincinnati, where he worked first at the Maisonette, then the Gourmet Room, returning to the Maisonette to take the position of head chef in 1956. Adrian helped design the Maisonette's new kitchen after the restaurant moved to Sixth Street in Cincinnati's downtown, and helped plan the location's more-casual basement restaurant, La Normandie.

He had a television show teaching cooking skills in the 1960s and wrote recipe columns for local newspapers. In 1966, invited to a formal dinner as one of the seven US chefs with five Mobil stars to celebrate the awarding of a fifth Mobil star to Cafe Chauveron, Adrian said it was the first time he'd ever worn a formal suit.

Personal life

Adrian married a New York woman, Joan, a chef's daughter, before moving to Cincinnati; the couple had four children: one son and three daughters. His typical after-work meal was a salami sandwich on rye. He was a golfer, skier, and played soccer as a boy. He died at The Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati on 3 June 1972, at age 46.