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Beloved Cincinnati chef Jean-Robert de Cavel dies at 61

Grace Yek
/
WCPO

Beloved chef and restauranteur Jean-Robert de Cavel, a decades-long fixture in Cincinnati’s dining scene, died December 23. He was 61.

Doctors diagnosed de Cavel with a rare form of cancer called leiomyosarcoma in 2018; the disease eventually led to his death.

De Cavel was born in Roubaix, France, in 1961 and studied at Le Feguide culinary school in France before heading to New York to work as a chef.

"From an early teen, I always wanted to be in the kitchen," de CaveltoldCincinnati Editionin 2014. "It was something I always enjoyed. I said to my parents, 'I want to do an apprenticeship.' "

He moved to Cincinnati in 1993 to work as head chef for Maisonette, then a prestigious fine dining destination Downtown and Cincinnati's only restaurant with a Mobil five-star rating.

His first days were rocky — the airline lost his luggage and he had to delay his start at the Maisonette. Coming from New York, Cincinnati's downtown seemed small. But he saw opportunity in the close-knit community.

"It was like everybody is from here," he said. "Everyone’s grandmother lives on the corner."

But he wasn't satisfied to simply hold the top spot at one of the city's most well-regarded restaurants.

His own ventures were numerous, spanning both formal fine dining and more causal French fare, and included highly regarded restaurants like Chalk, French Crust, Frenchie Fresh, Greenup Café, Lavomatic, JeanRo, Pigalls and many others.

"It's a different era," de Cavel told WVXU in 2016 as he opened up Restaurant L in Great American Tower. "Our wish is really to make the new generation and the older generation feel like what we are giving them today is what the Maisonette gave the customers and their guests for many decades in the past."

De Cavel’s work was recognized a number of times — he was named a semi-finalist four times for Best Chef in the Great Lakes Region and three times for Best Chef in the Midwest by the James Beard Foundation.

Often credited with helping kickstart Cincinnati's dining renaissance, the city renamed the corner of Seventh and Vine Streets Downtown for de Cavel in 2021.

"Jean-Robert de Cavel made Cincinnati his home, and then he changed us forever," Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval tweeted Dec. 23. "Through his life's work, in the kitchen and in the community, he taught us all to expect more. To believe Cincinnati was deserving of the very best. And thanks to him, the very best is what we got."

His influence went beyond the culinary world. De Cavel participated in a number of charitable causes. After losing their first-born daughter Tatiana to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in 2002, he and his wife founded the de Cavel Family SIDS Foundation.

"I have a soft spot for charity and doing things for people," he said in his Cincinnati Edition interview. "When I came to Cincinnati, I realized… you can make a difference as a big fish in a small pond. When I came to town I was in the spotlight as the head chef of the best restaurant in town. I'd never had that dimension before. That made me feel like I want to be connected with people."

De Cavel leaves behind his wife Annette Pfund de Cavel and his daughter Leticia.

Nick has reported from a nuclear waste facility in the deserts of New Mexico, the White House press pool, a canoe on the Mill Creek, and even his desk one time.