Spotlight On: Martial Noguier, French Chef Dedicated To The American Midwest

By Derek Gale, Senior Editor -- Hotels, 10/24/2008 11:46:00 AM

Chef Martial Noguier may be a native of Paris and a graduate of a French culinary academy, but he considers his mentors the two chefs that he spent years working and learning under in the United States: Joachim Splichal and Michel Richard. “They helped me a lot,” he says. Noguier recently made the move after nearly eight years as executive chef at Chicago’s one sixtyblue restaurant to become executive chef at the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower. Twenty-three days into his tenure at the hotel, he took some time out to talk with HOTELS.

HOTELS: What was your first kitchen job?

Noguier: It’s difficult to say… When I was a young boy in school, to make money, I used to work in restaurants after school or during the weekend or holidays. My mother would find me a job in a restaurant doing anything and everything. I was good for the job. I did some dishes, I was making pizza, grilling—I did everything. Anywhere they needed me I was going. Every year I had a different job.

HOTELS: How do you feel about working in a hotel now versus a freestanding restaurant?

Noguier: It’s a learning experience. I have a lot to learn because it’s a different operation. Working for one sixtyblue and Cornerstone (Restaurant Group), in the beginning I was the corporate chef, so I opened all the restaurants, and some were in hotels, like Wave in the W Hotel on Lakeshore Drive and We in the W Hotel on Adams, or Solea in the W Mexico City. So I knew a little bit about the process and the work. But here, it’s a different animal. We do a lot of business between banquets, roomservice, breakfast, lunch and dinner. On Saturday and Sunday, between breakfast and lunch, we do 400 to 450 people.

HOTELS: What was it about the chance to work at Sofitel Chicago that led you to leave one sixtyblue after nearly eight years?

Noguier: I didn’t leave one sixtyblue because I was unhappy—it was a great job. I met good people, I had the freedom to do anything I wanted, like changing the menu four or six times a year. It was a wonderful experience—more like a laboratory. And I had wonderful people with me in the kitchen and wonderful people with passion in the front of the house. I was very lucky.

But I think I liked the challenge. And also when I sat with the people responsible for Accor and Sofitel, the story they told me about what they want to become and where they want to be with Sofitel in two years was very interesting. I like the story—they want to reposition [Sofitel], not only in America.

I also like the idea—it’s a French company, a French hotel [brand]… You know when you do a restaurant and you try to find the right concept and everything goes together? I think I saw this: French chef, French company, French hotel.  

HOTELS: Did you bring any staff members with you?

Noguier: Of course I brought some staff with me—for example the new executive pastry chef, Suzanne Imaz. But also the employees they had here were very good. They are very nice people, not only in the kitchen, but also in the front of the house. It’s almost like my job was easy—I don’t need to push them. They are passionate, they want to learn and they are doing a great job. They are working all the time. I have to tell them to go home. These guys come in the morning and leave at night and nobody complains.

HOTELS: How would you define your cooking style?

Noguier: My food is not French. It’s French technique. You can say the same thing about Michel Richard or Joachim. The food is French but not French. It’s modern food—very light, no cream, no butter. The technique is to make sure the fish and meat is cooked perfect. It’s the marriage of meat and fish with vegetables…

HOTELS: That said, what will change with the food at Café des Architectes (Sofitel Chicago’s modern French brasserie)?

Noguier: I would like the food and the restaurant to become more a part of the Midwest. My goal is to make sure this restaurant becomes a neighborhood restaurant. What I’m doing is using a lot of farmers in the Midwest. I go to [Chicago’s] Green City Market every Wednesday and Saturday, and use local farmers for the food. I’m going to use fish from the lake (Lake Michigan). I’m starting with the restaurant, and slowly will do this with banquets. I want people in Chicago to understand that Sofitel is part of Chicago and that I respect the Midwest.

HOTELS: What are your favorite ingredients to work with?

Noguier: Root vegetables. I love root vegetables. I love celery root; I love sunchoke. All these vegetables I love. The flavor they have… you can do so many things with them. It’s so easy to put them together with anything.

HOTELS: What do you do in your limited free time?

Noguier: I want to be with my three kids. It’s been 23 days I’m not with my kids and I miss them. Because I start early in the morning, at 7:30, and finish at midnight every night, I don’t see them, and I love to be with my kids.