Anne Sophie Pic; Stars in her eyes

In times gone by, female cooks were both managing women and modest women. They were used to cooking, with sometimes a certain genius and the whole region used to come and eat there. This was the case of Sophie Pic. And it was in 1891.

Today, female chefs are still very few. They can have, like Anne Sophie Pic, diplomas from the International Management University of Asia, the Manhattan Institute of Management, and the ISG - Paris and may have worked for LVMH, Cartier and Moët et Chandon. And that‘s saying something...

With the aim of avoiding family destiny, in this case the succession as a cook, following on from her father, and then, one day, to be caught up by their destiny, and rather brightly in the case of this young citizen of Valence.

She came back to Valence when she was 22 years old, accompanied by David Sinapian, her husband, who she met when she was studying. He has helped her carry out her mission, backed her up, and supported her.

But at the same time, Jacques Pic prematurely died. The «Maison Pic» suffered some difficulties and then there was a ray of sunshine, a revival, the rise in power, the race to the stars, almost without knowing it, but always in the Pic fashion, modest and obstinate.

Today, the restaurant flirts with the 3 stars (the «Guide Michelin» thinks about her for its next edition, it is down in black and white in the 2006 edition...). The hotel has been arranged so that you can take your time when you are at table, profit from breakfasts in the garden and from the provençal charm of the bedrooms, all different.

To remember the grandmother, who was working in the «Café du Pin» above Saint Péray, and also to make Pic accessible to everyone, a travellers café, like the ones existing before along the famous "Nationale 7", the road running towards the south, has been created : «Le 7 by Anne Sophie Pic», ideally situated at the entrance of the great house.

It offers provençal inspired meals with of course the talent of Anne Sophie, herself, who invests herself at both sides of the house. Because she never leaves anything to chance and spares no effort.