Chef Nicolas Petitjean’s culinary journey began with his education at Cfa Polyvalent De Marzy. Like any dedicated chef, he learned tremendously from his mentors, his first being Jean Crotet (with whom Petitjean credits he learned all his skills and work ethic) and his two sons Guillame and Christophe, and his most challenging being Gilles Arzur, Executive Chef at Four Seasons Mauritius.
Prior to joining the Millcroft Inn and Spa as Executive Chef, he held various culinary leadership roles with the Four Seasons including Bora Bora in 2008, Beverly Wilshire in 2011, and Hampshire in 2014 before landing Toronto in 2015 and opening one of the top ten worldwide hotels at the Four Seasons Philadelphia in 2019. Beyond his Four Seasons tenure, Petitjean has cooked alongside the best, including La Maison Troisgros, an establishment impressively embellished with three Michelin Stars.
Petitjean’s favourite dishes to create reflect his background and pride for his hometown of Burgundy: escargots, oeuf moeurette, and boeuf bourguignon. Returning to tradition in this fashion—paying homage to the well-known dishes of his home—fuels his approach and method of operation to being a chef. “We need to be passionate by what we are doing in terms of creating new dishes, taking in consideration the ‘vibe’ of the guests, incorporating a maximum of local product, and being part of the culture of where we are.”
It’s a contemporary balance that Petitjean has been able to strike: respecting tradition yet being intuitive to the flow and change of the current culinary scene. As he interprets it, the culinary arts are “like a circle”; he sees food trends coming back time and time again. “A combination of classic and renewal fit obviously for me.”