Payard, François

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Payard, 1032 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10021. E-mail—francois@payard.com.

CAREER:

Writer, food service executive, and pastry chef. La Tour d'Argent, Paris, France, pastry chef, 1988; Lucas Carton restaurant, Paris, pastry chef, 1989; Le Bernardin, New York, NY, pastry chef, 1990; Restaurant Daniel, pasrty chef, 1993; Payard Patisserie and Bistro, New York, NY, owner and pastry chef, 1997—; inTENT lounge and restaurant, New York, New York, owner. Worked at family-owned Au Nid des Friandises restaurant, on the Riviera.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Pastry Chef of the Year award, James Beard Association, 1995; Bon Appetit Food & Entertainment Award, 1998; Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole, government of France, 2004; Relais Desserts, 2006.

WRITINGS:

(With Tim Moriarty and Tish Boyle) Simply Sensational Desserts: 140 Classics for the Home Baker from New York's Famous Patisserie and Bistro, photographs by Philippe Houze, Broadway Books (New York, NY), 1999.

(With Craig Freeman and Anne E. Macbride)Bite Size: Ninety Elegant Recipes for Entertaining, photography by Rogerio Voltan, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

François Payard is a noted pastry chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. As a chef who concentrates on the creation of pastries and desserts, Payard has been recognized by the James Beard Association and by Bon Appetit magazine. He is the owner of Payard Patisserie and Bistro and inTENT, a lounge and restaurant, both in New York, NY.

Payard is also a cookbook author, and in Simply Sensational Desserts: 140 Classics for the Home Baker from New York's Famous Patisserie and Bistro, he translates some of his more notable desserts into forms that home cooks and dessert makers can easily follow. Payard stresses simplicity so that even beginning and inexperienced cooks can "master most of these recipes," observed Debra Mitts in Library Journal. The chef includes recipes for dessert soups, cookies, petits fours, chocolate cakes, and much more, along with detailed instructions and background material on ingredients and techniques for successful preparation. "There is much here to intrigue and challenge the avid dessert chef," remarked Mark Knoblauch in Booklist. In this cookbook, Payard "succeeds brilliantly" at "creating less complicated recipes that home cooks can easily follow," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor.

In Bite Size: Ninety Elegant Recipes for Entertaining, Payard offers numerous recipes that are "stunning but labor-intensive," commented a writer in Publishers Weekly. This collection of hors d'oeuvres and small foods designed for parties and entertaining includes recipes for dishes such as ratatouille in parmesan cups, chilled tomato soup, white anchovy and tomato crostini, and other, more complicated fare. The Publishers Weekly reviewer recommended this cookbook especially to caterers and others with the time and resources to prepare some of the more complex and labor-intensive dishes described within.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 1999, Mark Knoblauch, review of Simply Sensational Desserts: 140 Classics for the Home Baker from New York's Famous Patisserie and Bistro, p. 212.

Library Journal, June 1, 1999, review of Simply Sensational Desserts, p. 2S15; August, 1999, Debra Mitts, review of Simply Sensational Desserts, p. 129.

Publishers Weekly, July 5, 1999, review of Simply Sensational Desserts, p. 64; August 7, 2006, review of Bite Size: Ninety Elegant Recipes for Entertaining, p. 49.

ONLINE

Chocolate Show Web site,http://www.chocolateshow.com/ (January 2, 2007), biography of François Payard.

Payard Web site,http://www.payard.com (January 2, 2007), biography of François Payard.

[Sketch reviewed by assistant, Jillian Brant.]