The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-03-02
Character study of IA Cook Who Was
an Artist.

an Artist.
From the Pail Mall Gazette,
Joseph-what his other name was
no one asked-was an artist. 1t so
happened that he was sent as a boy
into the kitchen of Brebants, and hav-
ing climbed all the rungs of the lad
der, became in due time a great maitre
d'hotel-and no man can satisfactorily
fill that position unless he knows every
! secret of all sanctuaries behind the
inner door: but if he had begun life
in studio he would have become a
fine painter or sculptor, and he had a
very pretty wit which, had he chosen,
would have secured him the honors of
large type as a gossip on any of the
| light-hearted Partisan papers.
You had only to look at him to know
that you were in the presence of an
artistic power. The long gray hair, the
clear brown eyes that looked out from
under the penthouse of big forehead
all belonged to man out of the COM
mon. His white waistcoat his little
round coat, were different to the garb
one usually associates with the head Of
a restaurant. and his manner was not
the quick, decisive one of a great or
ganizer, such as the modern maitre
dhotel with great establishment to
control has to be, but the gentle I'M
hurried way of the artist, to whom time
is of no account when art is to be chat
ted over.
He had his outside distractions. for
he was no mean athlete, and his hom-
ing pigeons won fame for him in scores
of international competitions, but his
art with him was his life. AS a boy,
when he was let out from the kitchen
at Brebants, he would go to the An
glais, and, standing outside of the res
taurant, look down through the bars
into the kitchen to see IL he could
learn any of the secrets of the cooks.
When he came to the head of his pro-
fession as maitre d'hotel at Paillard's
he had become quick judge of char
acter, something of a diplomatist, and
a fine Dunster in words. He always
liked to be present when a customer
ordered dinner and he judged in a mo-
ment what kind of feast his client
would like. and sketched it out for him
in a few glowing phrases.
Four dishes are the number that go
to a perfect dinner, so Joseph used TO
say, and he insisted most rightly that
the perfect workman was content to
be judged by few chefs d'oeuvre. To
a small dinner. however, he brought
all the accomplishments of a metteur
en- scene. Without trespassing on the
province of the cook, he took the dim
ner in his charge as soon as it had
passed the dining room door, and 1t
was a delight to see him give the fin
ishing touches to a sole a la Reichen-
berg, mix a salad carve a canard Rou-
ennais, or out out with deft fingers
a little basket. which he filled with
flowers, from an orange.
AS a past master of the kitchen, he
invented while walking the streets and
dreaming of possibilities, trying his
ideas in his own kitchen, and then Civ
ing the chef of the restaurant the re-
oette; and his pommes de terre Georg-
cite, his peches Cardinal, and other Of
his creations" are glorious memories.
AS the house steward of one of the
Vanderbilts in America, he longed for
his beloved boulevards, and the Savoy
was too large a restaurant for him to
make his personality felt at every ia
BILE at dinner time. He was at his
best al the MarivauX, the little white
restaurant over the way from the On
era Comique, where, in watching the
faces of a delighted party of gour-
mets,he used to say that he saw a sight
more delightful than any that the
theater could show him. He was a
very gentle, pleasant, witty man. A
prince among maitres d'hotel and all
gourmets of all nations will mourn his
loss.