POV

Jacquy Pfeiffer

Co-founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago, Jacquy Pfeiffer got his start in pastry at the age of 15, as an apprentice at Jean Clauss’ Pastry Shop in Strasbourg, France. In the course of his career, Pfeiffer has served as the pastry chef for Admiral Phillipe Le Jeune of the French Navy, the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia and the Sultan of Brunei, and prepared pastries and desserts for celebrities like Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson and Oprah Winfrey. An international award-winning pastry chef and the recipient of the 2004 World Pastry Forum's Pastry Chef of the Year, Pfeiffer is the honorary co-chair of For the Love of Chocolate and Pastry in Chicago.

Sébastien Canonne

Sébastien Canonne began his career in 1983 at the age of 15 when he studied at the Ecole Hôteliere de Rouen in Normandy, France. Known for his brilliance with texture and taste, Canonne has worked at the famous La Côte St. Jacques Restaurant in Burgundy alongside Michelin three-star chef Michel Lorain; at the legendary Beau-Rivage Palace in Geneva, Switzerland; at the Hotel Palace Eulerin Basel; and for French President Francois Mitterand at le Palais de l’Elysee in Paris, under Master Chef Joel Normand, MOF Co-founder of the French Pastry School, Canonne is honorary co-chair of For the Love of Chocolate and Pastry in Chicago.

Regis Lazard

Régis Lazard comes from a family of artisans. He is the grandson of a baker, son of a restaurateur, brother of a baker and sister of a restaurateur. But it was from vacations in the kitchen of his uncle, a pastry chef, that he developed his passion for pastry. Early in his career, Régis worked with Franck Fresson, one of the profession’s elder statesmen who inculcated in him a sense of rigor and the pursuit of perfection. He has worked for more than a decade at the Luxembourg patisserie of Gerard Cayotte, who first encouraged him to test his mettle in pastry competitions. After competing in the World Chocolate Masters and the Trophy Pascal Caffet, Régis made his first attempt at the MOF Like many who do not succeed in their first attempt, Régis made a second attempt in the competition captured by Kings of Pastry.

Philippe Rigollot

Philippe Rigollot has served for almost a decade as the pastry chef at the celebrated Maison Pic, the only Michelin 3-Star restaurant presided over by a woman. A member of the 2005 gold-medal French team in the World Cup of Pastry, Rigollot attributes his early interest in pastry to the time he spent after school at the pastry shop where his mother worked. He received his formal training at Lenôtre, the training ground for many of France’s most esteemed pastry chefs.

At Lenôtre — founded by the recently deceased Gaston Lenôtre, widely considered the father of modern French pastry — Rigollot oversaw production for the firm’s entremets before moving on to second one of the métier’s great masters, Gérard Gautheron, MOF at Lenôtre’s equally legendary school. Rigollot later worked at the Pré Catelan in Paris, where his desserts were almost as famous as the cuisine of this 3-star restaurant.

View a photo slideshow of some of the pastry creations of these chefs from Kings of Pastry.

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