Gusteau’s was a fictional restaurant in the 2007 Disney•Pixar animated feature film Ratatouille, home to the most famous chef in Paris, Auguste Gusteau. At one time, it was a five-star culinary destination of Paris, and represents the best of the best to Remy. It is here that Remy pursues his dream of becoming a chef like his hero.
Role in the film[]
The restaurant was degraded to a four-star rating after feared food critic Anton Ego (possibly deliberately) wrote a scathing review regarding Gusteau's cooking (it is unknown why the restaurant lost a star, as Ego was just one man compared to masses of people who greatly admired Gusteau's cooking). Gusteau died of a broken heart afterwards, leading to the loss of yet another star. Gusteau's sous chef, Skinner, then inherited the restaurant and started a frozen food line using Gusteau's image, but he himself was not as innovative as Gusteau. Thus, the restaurant sank into obscurity.
Two years after Gusteau's death, Alfredo Linguini came to work there as a plongeur (garbage boy). On his first night, he ruined a soup that was cooking by accidentally spilling it and then repairing it with random ingredients. Remy was there that night and, noticing Linguini's actions, fixed the soup. The soup was served against all of Skinner's protests and proved to be delicious when a food critic tasted it that night. Afterword got out regarding the soup, public interest in the restaurant was renewed. Linguini was made into a chef and, after he became friends with Remy, the two worked together in secrecy to recreate the soup as well as some new recipes.
A few nights later, the customers requested to see another new recipe from the chef, so Skinner, out of jealousy of Linguini's success, tricked him into creating a Gusteau recipe named "Sweetbread a la Gusteau" without mentioning that Gusteau himself hated the dish. With Remy's help, Linguini revived the dish and the customers loved it, so everyone in the restaurant ordered it. With this success, the restaurant's popularity soared.
Skinner later discovered that Linguini was the son of Gusteau, as his mother was Gusteau's deceased girlfriend, Renata Linguini. He tried to conceal this information to prevent Linguini from claiming ownership of the restaurant. After Remy discovered this fact, he told Linguini, who then assumed ownership of the restaurant, causing Skinner to be fired and the frozen food line to be cancelled. Under Linguini's leadership, the restaurant thrived.
When Ego learned of the restaurant's success, he informed Linguini personally that he would return to sample his recipes, making Linguini and the entire staff of the kitchen nervous. Skinner attempted to sabotage Linguini's efforts by capturing Remy, whom he discovered was the real chef. The kitchen fell into chaos as Linguini had no idea of how Remy cooked his dishes. Remy escaped and rushed to help Linguini, only to see the entire staff depart when Linguini introduced Remy to them. Fortunately, Remy's clan of rats arrived to help him serve the customers, as did Colette, Linguini's girlfriend and the kitchen's only female cook. Together, the team cooked up a dish of ratatouille, which, despite being a "peasant dish", turned out to be delicious thanks to Remy's efforts. Ego loved it as well (to the point that it invoked childhood memories of his mother's cooking the same dish) and asked to meet the chef. After the customers left, Remy and Ego finally met (as instructed by Colette), and Ego's negative perception of the restaurant changed drastically. He praised its chef (though anonymously) as the finest in France, giving the restaurant an astonishingly positive review.
Sadly, Skinner discovered the rat infestation and "ratted them out" to the health department, who promptly closed Gusteau's as a direct result. While it is unknown what became of the building that once housed the famous restaurant, Linguini, Remy, and Colette all moved on to start a new bistro, "La Ratatouille", funded by Ego (who also lost his job and credibility as a restaurant critic for praising a rat-infested restaurant) himself, which has proven to be almost as popular as Gusteau's.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Gusteau'sConceptArt3 (Map).jpg (67 KB)")
Trivia[]
- A restaurant set exactly as Gusteau's appears in Cars 2, with the difference being that it is named Gastow's.
- Parisian restaurants are rated by Michelin, which awards a maximum of three stars. The five-star system is used exclusively by Forbes in the United States. Thus, Gusteau's would never have obtained a 5-star rating in the first place.
- The name, like the namesake character, is a pun on "gustation", which means a sense of taste. It also represents on how admiring the food tastes.
