Point In
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the town of Vienne, 40 miles (64 km) south of Lyon, two pyramids stand in close proximity. The first, a Roman monument dating back to before the Caesars, marks the centre of an arena where chariot races once were held. The second, La Pyramide, is the place in which modern cuisine was born. Its father was Fernand Point. He was born three years shy of the twentieth century. His father, Auguste, was the tenant of a railway station hotel-buffet where his mother and grandmother cooked cordon bleu food. By the time he was eighteen Fernand’s calling was clear. After his training—first as a saucier and then a poissonnier—it was apparent that his talents were too great for a modest station-buffet. With his father he decamped to Lyon, but there was no restaurant for them. Instead they found themselves in Vienne, where a small provincial house was for sale. There La Pyramide was born. In the beginning there were not even inside lavatories. But when Auguste died in 1925
they had already built a fine new kitchen, and over the next five years Fernand’s reputation throughout the region was assured. Still it was hardly a glamorous house, and when in 1930 he married, the young Madame Point refused to even enter the establishment while it was in such a state. They shut the restaurant, employed an architect to redecorate, and on the new land which Point had bought beside the house built a new terrace and garden. With this Point’s singular originality was liberated. Until then he had produced traditional, albeit superb, Lyonnais food. But there was no room for individuality, and Point was bored.
BEHIND EVERY GREAT MAN It is a cliché, of course. It is also true. Before her marriage Madame Point had been a coiffeuse: she was used to dealing with clients. She had drive. And she understood how to run a business. Not only that, but both luck and the
GREAT, GR AND & FAMOUS CHEFS AND THEIR SIGNATURE DISHES