Lookwhos: Look Who's Eating: Philippe Audax

Graham Lienhart Philippe Audax

French-born Philippe Audax graduated from L'Ecole Hôtelière de Paris when he was 18 years old and embarked on a career that would see him working in France, Bermuda, Boston, the White House, Mason-Montgomery and, since 2003, at the University of Cincinnati. To follow the trajectory traced by Audax's career one might be forgiven for thinking that the journey would have made more sense had he made it in the opposite direction. Not so, says Audax, whose father was the private chef of the governor of Paris, and whose uncle is the private chef for Chanel. One thing is certain: Audax is a culinary thoroughbred. He was born into it. He didn't choose it.

CityBeat: What's the last great meal you ate and where did you eat it?

Philippe Audax: Hmm. Actually, I had two great dining experiences recently: one for the food and the other for the ambiance. For the food, was John-Robert at Pigall's and, of course, we had the tasting menu, the 8-course dinner with wine, which was wonderful. The one for the ambiance was Vinoklet: the food was not great, the wine was terrible, but the ambiance was awesome. We ate outside and it was really nice.

CB: After cooking for the rich and famous, why come and cook here at the University of Cincinnati?

PA: For the simple reason that what we are doing is restaurant-style dining. Here we cook to order pretty much like a restaurant, except obviously on a larger scale. That was very interesting. And of course, for quality of life, for family life, it was better than a restaurant.

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