The Lorain family is well-known in France, but there are too few who know about the family and their amazing restaurant outside the country. La Côte Saint-Jacques is one of the several amazing restaurants in France run by the same family for generations. Chef Patron Jean-Michel Lorain is the third generation.

Marie Lorain originally was a seamstress, but she was also a talented cook, so she decided to open her own restaurant in Joigny in 1945. The town is located 90 minutes from Paris by the entrance to Burgundy. She named the restaurant La Côte Saint-Jacques after a hill behind her property. Marie gave birth to four children and her youngest son, Michel, took over the business in 1958. Michel’s wife Jacqueline became a successful sommelier of the restaurant and one of the first professional female sommeliers in France. La Côte Saint-Jacques was slowly turned into a more and more sophisticated and luxurious restaurant and hotel.

Their son, Jean-Michel, was born in 1959 and he started his professional gastronomical career in 1977 at Pierre and Jean Troisgros’ legendary restaurant in Roanne. He continued to Taillevent in Paris which is another legend of French gastronomy. He also worked 18 months at Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville in Switzerland before he started to work with his father in 1983, so a much better pedigree is difficult to obtain for anyone seeking to become an expert in French cuisine. Jean-Michel Lorain took over the hotel restaurant from his father completely in 2000 and at that time the restaurant had an extensive refurbishment as well.

You will enjoy wonderful views of the surrounding Burgundy landscape including the river Yonne from the restaurant’s terrace or from the lavish dining rooms. The cuisine and the style of La Côte Saint-Jacques is as French as it possibly can be. Imagine the very best from this amazing country when it comes to delicious food and impeccable service and you will have a good idea of how amazing La Côte Saint-Jacques is.

Frog legs, snails, foie gras, the most French cuisine you can think of will be offered to you, like you have come to expect from lots of haute cuisine restaurants, but there are few in the world which manage to deliver such an amazing overall experience as La Côte Saint-Jacques.

Written by Andy