Emotions, happiness and memories

They would soon enjoy the taste of the matelote with Riesling, fried fish, Chantilly meringue and fruit tarts. This inn, the Arbre Vert, was quite modest compared with the Auberge de l’Ill which succeeded it. But the food was already delicious. My great-grandmother Haeberlin was at the stove. She then passed on her apron to my great-aunt Henriette who, until her final days, taught us about the love of precise and good work. Henriette was supported by her sister in law, Marthe Haeberlin, a specialist in desserts and pastries.

During the hunting season, the menu was bolstered with hare and deer, supplied by the surrounding gamekeepers.
People came from Colmar, Sélestat and even Saint Dié and Strasbourg to try this simple and tasty local food. The Sunday customers, often people of note, were very loyal, like Mr. Peugeot, who regularly came to eat game meals. While the women were in charge of the kitchen, my grandfather Fritz was in charge of the farm and livestock. It was in this wonderful setting that the family’s two sons – Paul and Jean-Pierre – grew up.

At fourteen years old, my father Paul started an apprenticeship at the Hôtel de la Pépinière in Ribeauvillé, with Edouard Weber, former chef at the Tsar’s court in Saint Petersburg, for the King of Greece and in major bourgeois homes, including the Rothschilds.

My father was Mr. Weber’s spiritual son who detected and uncovered his talents as a great chef.

After Ribeauville, my father left to work in Paris, in two major restaurants, the Rôtisserie Périgourdine with the Rouzier brothers, and with Pocardi. He was instructed, trained, modelled and kneaded by hard and serious chefs. During this time, his brother Jean-Pierre studied at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg in the company of Roger Muhl. Cooking did not interest him at all; he was more focused on gardening and painting, artistic tastes which were not well regarded in a rural setting where physical work reigned.

I am part of the fourth generation of chefs and I started working with my father and uncle in 1976. Some of our employees have been working with us for many years, like Daniel Rederstorff, head chef, who was my father’s first apprentice in 1954. He took classes with Fernand Point in Vienna, where my father never managed to enter, then he sailed on the France luxury liner before returning to us.
Serge Dubs, best sommelier in the world in 1989, has been at the Auberge since 1972,
Michel Scheer, the first Maitre d’, has been working with us since 1967.
Others are more unassuming like our secretary Mrs. Marguerite Claudon or the kitchen porter Ahmed Amzil, but without them nothing would work as well, as in a company like ours there are no small jobs. Everything, at every level, must be perfect, from the dishwashing to the plate placed in front of the customer.

Everything must deserve three stars: the welcome, the garden, the mail. When I return to the Auberge after visiting a colleague or a friend in the restauration service, I find something to work on and I feel that we have a long journey ahead of us. But I also know that if everything was perfect, it would be the beginning of the end. I hope that day never comes.

Our very loyal customers – sometimes from three generations – come from the region, but also from one hundred kilometres around, Lorraine, Basel, Fribourg, and not forgetting the Japanese, Americans or Belgians.