Dan's Taste of Two Forks Countdown: Guy Reuge of Mirabelle

Executive Chef Guy Reuge of Mirabelle was born in Normandy and raised in the Loire Valley. He started his cooking career when he was 14 as an apprentice in Orleans and has been making culinary magic ever since. Meet Reuge and try his food at Dan’s Taste of Two Forks on July 20.

First word (or words) that comes to mind when you hear “Taste of Summer.”
When I hear “taste of summer,” I think about fun and another occasion to spend an extravagant evening with people who, for years, have loved our food.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Even if you think a dish you have made is perfect, it can always be better.

What’s the oddest request you’ve ever received from a diner?
There’s always another strange request topping the strangest one, like asking for cooked steak tartare or wanting a steak charred beyond recognition and sending it back to have it cooked even more.

What talent would you most like to have?
In our cooking jargon we call the stove the piano. I would love to have the talent of playing a real piano.

What recent travels have you taken that have inspired you?
Every trip inspires me, whether it’s going to Virginia to visit my wife’s family and rediscovering Southern comfort food, or going to visit Croatia and being inspired by a great olive oil or an exotic fish.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I consider my long career to be my most important achievement, 53 years cooking and looking to what’s ahead. I have decided that every day I want to learn something new, as I never feel as though I have achieved perfection.

If you were not in the food or wine business, what would you be doing?
If I had not been a chef, I would have been a reporter or photographer covering important events in the world, a sort of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

We just handed you a glass of bubbly. Now please make a toast to summer on the East End.
Let’s toast the two forks for giving us so many good times together, year after year!

For more on Mirabelle, visit lessings.com. For tickets and more information on all Dan’s Taste of Summer events, visit DansTaste.com.

Read more about Dan’s Taste of Summer 2019.