Jean-Marie Lacroix, chef
Lacroix at The Rittenhouse
210 W. Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia
(215) 546-9000, www.rittenhousehotel.com
If you want a good steeping in the American past, go to
Philadelphia. The place exudes history the way
Los Angeles emits
smog and
Houston seeps crude oil. One of the loveliest spots from
which to soak up Philly's tradition-laden atmosphere is Rittenhouse
Square, a beautiful parklike oasis first envisioned by William Penn
and now surrounded by some of the city's most distinguished
architecture.
The square was named for David Rittenhouse, a noted astronomer,
surveyor, instrument maker, and philosopher who was a slightly
younger contemporary of that other
Philadelphia polymath, Benjamin
Franklin. Today, a prime address for visitors to Philadelphia is
The Rittenhouse Hotel. The hotel's flagship restaurant, Lacroix at
The Rittenhouse, beckons with a distinctly Gallic siren song from
amid the Federal-period townhouses and later condos.
Jean-Marie Lacroix was born in the Franche-Comté and got his formal
training at Thonon-les-Bains, on the French side of Lake Geneva.
His career took him to
Switzerland, England,
Scotland, and Canada
before he landed in Philly in 1983 to open the Fountain Restaurant
at the
Four Seasons Hotel. He ran the kitchen there for nearly two
decades, putting his indelible stamp on Philadelphia's burgeoning
culinary scene. Just when he was toying with the idea of
retirement, the chef was enticed to The Rittenhouse in 2001, the
same year he won the James Beard award for best chef in the
mid-Atlantic region.