Celebrity Chef Jacques Pepin dines in Providence restaurant over the weekend. Here's where

It’s not every day that you get to cook for one of your icons.

But that’s what happened for Persimmon chef and owner Champe Speidel when chef Jacques Pepin came with his family for the Friday night dinner service.

“My first cookbook was his La Technique, which was my mother’s. It was a first edition. I pretty much stole it from her,” Speidel said. “So, you know, it’s a real treat when you have a luminary, who is someone you really respect.”

Pepin is one of the culinary greats. The French chef has authored numerous cookbooks, been honored with 24 James Beard Foundation Awards, and many television shows, including one with Julia Child. At 87, he’s still working, publishing “Jacques Pepin Art of the Chicken” last year, which was a New York Times best seller.

Pepin lives in Madison, Connecticut, but he was in Providence over the weekend to spend time with his daughter Claudine and her husband, who are both Rhode Island residents, according to his official Facebook page.

Persimmon is a favorite spot of the family, who chose it for a book dinner in 2015 for Claudine’s own cookbook, “Kids Cook French.”

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Even if it’s not the first time, it’s always a “real treat” to have him visit, Speidel said.

While there for dinner, Pepin did make his way into the kitchen to meet the cooks and take a few pictures.

“He still loves to be a part of it,” Speidel said. “So he sort of wanders back, and he’s shaking hands and stirring sauces. It’s really sweet.”

Better still, Pepin like the meal.

“We just had a great dinner at Persimmon in town,” Pepin wrote on Facebook, sharing several pictures of himself with the restaurant staff. “Now we are at home and having a nightcap with the dogs.”

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Pepin spent the rest of the long weekend in Rhode Island, according to his Facebook page, including doing some cooking at home and a game of boules.

Correction: An earlier version incorrectly said Pepin lives with his wife Gloria in Connecticut. She died in 2020 after 54 years of marriage.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Persimmon in Providence visited by celebrity Chef Jacques Pepin