Pierre Gagnaire (9 April 1950 in Apinac, Loire) is a well known French chef, and is the Head Chef and owner of the eponymous Pierre Gagnaire restaurant at 6 rue Balzac in Paris (in the 8th arrondissement). Gagnaire is an iconoclastic chef at the forefront of the fusion cuisine movement. Beginning his career in St. Etienne where he won three Michelin Stars, Gagnaire tore at the conventions of classic French cooking by introducing jarring juxtapositions of flavours, tastes, textures, and ingredients. On his website Pierre Gagnaire gives his mission statement as the wish to run a restaurant which is 'facing tomorrow but respectful of yesterday' ("tourné vers demain mais soucieux d'hier").
Famous French chef. Former apprentice with other famous chef Paul Bocuse. In 1976, he directed his family restaurant "Le Clos Fleuri" (near Saint-Etienne), and then installed his new restaurant "Aux Passementiers" in Saint-Etienne in 1981, for which he was given a 18/20 mark in the Gault-et-Millau Guide (one of the most important French restaurant guides) in 1984. He eventually opened a new restaurant in Saint-Etienne in 1992 for which he obtained an impressive 19.5/20 mark in the Gault-et-Millaz Guide and 3 stars in the Michelin Guide (the other important French restaurant guide) in 1992. After bankruptcy he had to close his restaurant in 1996 but thanks to friends' help he opened a new one in Paris, where he obtained 3 stars again in 1998.