After working at the American Embassy in Paris and the official residence of the French prime minister, chef Anthony Ferré is now preparing dinners in the homes of Atlanta-based CEOs and consuls general and offering bilingual gourmet cooking classes in partnership with the Alliance Française d’Atlanta.
Mr. Ferré arrived in Atlanta in July 2004 after his wife, Nathalie Ferré, was posted at the French Consulate here. In January, he started a business that allows him to continue his 16-year career as a gourmet chef by leading individual and group cooking classes with Atlanta-based organizations. He also helps local businessmen, diplomats and individuals entertain guests by preparing gourmet dinners entirely in their kitchens.
“I prepare the type of meal that you could find at a gourmet restaurant in Atlanta, except I do it all in people’s homes,” Mr. Ferré told GlobalAtlanta in a recent interview. “And I take care of everything,” he said, noting that after meeting with his clients in advance, he later shops at local farmers’ markets and arrives at people’s homes with his own pots, pans, cooking utensils and spices, ready to prepare the night’s meal.
Mr. Ferré, who has prepared dinners in more than 30 Atlanta kitchens, said that he prefers cooking in people’s homes to working in a restaurant where he would never get to interact with his customers.
“I really enjoy getting to interacting with so many different people. You end up in a different kitchen every time, and getting used to the new cooking environment is always a great challenge,” he said. He added that he had been considering such a business for more than 15 years.
Mr. Ferré, who recently prepared a dinner for Atlanta’s former consul general of Canada, Malcolm McKechnie, has also offered cooking classes for individuals and groups with the organization Atlanta-Acceuil, a French cultural organization that helps to welcome and orient newly arrived francophones to the city.
Most recently, he has also agreed to offer bilingual cooking courses with the Atlanta chapter of the Alliance Française d’Atlanta, which works to promote the study of French language and culture throughout the city. A series of five two-hour classes is to begin in January where Mr. Ferré will teach cooking techniques that become more difficult as the classes progress.
In addition, students are expected to learn about wine pairings for selected meals and translations of cooking and culinary vocabulary. Dates, times and prices for the classes will be announced at the beginning of the organization’s winter class session.
A session of 10 individual cooking classes with Mr. Ferré is to be auctioned during an upcoming fundraiser. The event, organized by A Phoenix for Toulouse Inc., is to help pay for a bronzed statue of a phoenix, which was donated to the city of Toulouse, France, to commemorate a chemical plant explosion there on Sept. 21, 2001. Also, Mr. Ferré is donating a dinner for four to be auctioned off at the charity event, which is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 21, at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta.
Before coming to Atlanta, Mr. Ferré studied at the Ecole Hôtelière d’Eragny near Paris, prepared dinners for Prime Minister Michel Rocard while working at his residence, Hôtel Matignon, and most recently worked as managing chef for the company restaurant of the Conseil Régional d’Ile de France, the government municipality for Paris and its surrounding suburbs.
For more information on Mr. Ferré’s classes, dinners and pricing, visit www.anthonyforyourparty.com, or contact him at Ferrefamily@comcast.net or (678) 437-8199. Contact the Alliance Française at (404) 875-1211.