Jean-Paul Passedat, father of three-star chef Gérald Passedat, and developer of the “Petit Nice” hotel-restaurant, a Marseille gastronomic institution, has died at the age of 88 in Marseille, his son announced in a statement. . Anchored on the white rocks of Anse de Maldormé on the Marseille coast, Le Petit Nice is the first restaurant in Marseille to have won three Michelin stars under the leadership of its chef Gérald Passedat.
A path of excellence traced by his grandfather and his father in a family saga which began in 1917 when Germain Passedat, owner of a bar-tabac, bought from a baroness a large white building, “the Corinthe villa”, open on the sea and the Frioul islands to turn it into a restaurant.
By chance, the baroness had come to use the phone in her bar to tell her notary that her property was up for sale.
“No need to look, I’ll buy it from you”, would have launched Germain Passedat, according to the family story. He baptized the place “Le Petit Nice” to attract an upscale clientele, the city of the Alpes-Maritimes being very fashionable at the time. He moved in with his wife, Lucie, singer and muse of the Lumière brothers, the inventors of the cinematograph, whose photos adorn the walls of the restaurant.
Celebrities like Pagnol or Fernandel thronged to “Petit Nice” which, on Germain’s death, was taken over by his son Jean-Paul. An opera singer, he put aside a promising career to devote himself to gastronomy with his wife Albertine.
He transformed the Petit Nice into a luxury hotel, dug a seawater swimming pool, and won a Michelin star in 1977 then a second in 1981. “Passionate and respectful of the culinary traditions of the Marseille region, Jean-Paul passed on son Gérald the taste for beauty, the sense of rhythm, the love of things well done and the taste for pleasing others”, greeted the family in a press release.
