Remembrances of Chef Paul, Plus His Sauce Vinaigrette
Introducing French farm-to-table to Richmond in the 1970s
The best obits aren’t those that appear in print but those that appear in our hearts and minds – sometimes years later – when we’re doing something that makes us think of an individual. Whenever I set about whisking-up a Bordelaise, Hollandaise or Provençal sauce, my thoughts dart back to the early 1970s and Chef Paul Elbling, the owner of La Petite France, who brought culinary attention to Richmond – and to the United States.
He died in July 2023 at the age of 82, but he helped Richmond grow beyond the meat-and-potato-restaurant city it was when he and his wife, Marie-Antoinette, moved from Washington, D. C., to open their restaurant on Nov. 5, 1971.
They were a culinary team and practiced “farm to table” long before it became a buzzword. They made time to pick local Virginia-grown berries and other fruits, vegetables and herbs.
Chef Paul was voted Chef of the Year 1975 by the Virginia Chef’s Association. I interviewed him for the January 1977 issue of “Dominion LifeStyle Magazine,” when he had a simple response to my question of why he and Marie had chosen Richmond: “Richmond didn’t have a French restaurant.” True to La Petite France’s roots, it served French wines prized by Chef Paul; but among his innovative steps, he took trips to Argentina to source wines there – long before Argentinian wine became a staple on United States’ restaurant wine lists.
I came to think of him as the area chef who would accept any diner’s challenge to “make my day.”
The road to chefdom had begun many decades earlier. He recounted starting work for Paris chefs at age 13, when he would rise at 3 a.m. so he could be among the first buyers at the markets and get the best produce. The chefs, he said, could be scolding if he brought back anything less than perfect.
In Europe at that time a chef couldn’t hope to become an executive chef – or be allowed to take on an apprentice – until he received a master’s degree in cuisine. Chef Paul received his master’s in Germany after graduating as the top student in the prestigious Hotel School of Strasbourg, France.
Even the interior of his Richmond restaurant, I recall from its early days, reflected French life and style in its creamy plaster walls, niches, French paintings and decorative plates with scenes of his Alsace boyhood home. Marie put great care into the flower arrangements for each table. Her husband, in his time off from cooking, enjoyed duck hunting and fishing, often serving in the restaurant the bluefish caught in the Chesapeake Bay.
In preparing for my interview with him, I was astounded by the heft of the 20-plus pages in his resume: It enumerated everything from training at Le Cordon Bleu, working at several European resorts and mentoring chefs in world competition (for which they received all of the gold medals) to sponsoring friends such as Julia Child and Emeril Lagasse for culinary school. He also carved the ice sculpture for the Lake Placid Olympic Games.
Though he had a good sense of humor, his world records for the longest sandwich and largest omelet weren’t just for fun.In keeping with his and Marie’s charity work, he generated funds for charities.
Sauce Vinaigrette “Chef Paul”
From “Chef Paul’s La Petite France” by Paul Elbling
Yield: 6 cups
- 1 egg yolk
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- 1½ cups white wine
- 1½ cups wine vinegar
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1½ teaspoons dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 3/8 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 cups salad oil (such as vegetable, corn, canola, grapeseed or safflower oil)
- ½ cup olive oil
- Have all the ingredients ready before beginning. In a blender, put the egg yolk, mustard, wine, wine vinegar, salt, thyme, white pepper, oregano, nutmeg, rosemary and basil. Mix well at medium speed for 30 seconds, taking care not to turn off the blender.
- With the blender still on, slowly add the oils, pouring them in a very thin stream into the liquid in the blender. Take care to add the oil slowly so the dressing will not separate. Refrigerate before serving.
Per (2 tablespoon) serving: 107 calories; 12g fat; 1g saturated fat; 4mg cholesterol; 1g protein; no carbohydrate; no sugar; no fiber; 107mg sodium; 2mg calcium
Sourced from St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 15, 2020
Chef Paul’s La Petite France is out of print, but used copies are available on websites.
Tributes to Stella Dikos, founder and namesake of Stella’s Greek restaurant, Richmond
FEATURE PHOTO CAPTION, TOP: Image from Facebook, Richmond magazine: In 2012, the magazine named its regional dining awards, The Elbys, for Chef Paul Elbling, seen here at the 2019 awards. Elbling was also founder of the French Food Festival.
