Thierry Rautureau, nicknamed "The Chef In The Hat", is a Seattle, Washington celebrity chef and the chef/owner of several former restaurants, including Loulay and Luc. He is now "semi-retired", following his restaurants' difficulties with the COVID-19 pandemic. He apprenticed in Anjou, France, and at twenty moved to the United States to work at several fine restaurants. He became the chef/owner of Rover's Restaurant in 1987, and before closing its doors in 2013 it helped make him one of the most recognizable chefs around Seattle. Rautureau has won various awards including the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest in 1998, and has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre Du Mérite Agricole by the French government. In 2010, Rautureau opened Luc, a French-American café and bar in Madison Valley. This was followed by Loulay Kitchen & Bar in 2013, a French-inspired restaurant that balanced the upscale Rover's with country-style cooking that he enjoyed growing up on the farm in France. Both restaurants closed in 2021, following difficulties with the COVID-19 pandemic, as the chef entered "semi-retirement". He has cooked for such well-known figures as Hillary Clinton, Francis Ford Coppola, Jackson Browne, and Julia Child. Early life Rautureau was raised in the town of Saint-Hilaire-de-Loulay in the Muscadet region of France. His parents were farmers in a small agricultural community where the cows and chickens outnumbered the people. The family cooked only what they grew, thus providing a purely seasonal diet. As the oldest child, Rautureau was given the chore of doing the prep for dinner; and as such he quickly became acquainted with fresh homegrown ingredients at a young age. Early career At fourteen, Rautureau started a cooking apprenticeship in Anjou, France and at sixteen went on a Regional Tour de France and trained in the cities of Le Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, Chamonix in the French Alps, and Hendaye in the Pays Basque. At twenty, after six years of traditional French training, Rautureau headed for the United States and took his professional experience to La Fontaine with Jean Claude Poilevey in Chicago. After three years in Chicago, Rautureau moved to Los Angeles where he worked at the Regency Club with Joachim Splichal, and then The Seventh Street Bistro with Laurent Quenioux. Restaurants Rover's While visiting Seattle in 1987, Rautureau dined at Rover's and discovered that the restaurant was for sale. He decided to buy the restaurant