Monsieur Rene Le Cren
Rene Le Cren died on July 31. Many people do not know his name, but many are familiar with the old man who slowly walked every day along Skunk Lane along the Causeway beach and into and around Nassau Point. He walked with an elaborately carved walking stick and covered around three miles a day, and in the words of Dylan Thomas, “taking his constitutional as he would wet or fire…on Christmas Day or doomsday.”* He was 91 years old. What many do not also know is that for many years he was the Executive Chef at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
Rene was born in Gourin, a small town in Brittany, France, very near the famous pottery town of Quimper. At the age of 13, he apprenticed as a barber in his father’s shop and two years later he was sent to Caen in Normandy to learn women’s hair dressing, which he practiced for 27 years.
During the war years, many Army Air Corps planes crashed their stricken planes in the area and many of the families hid the downed airmen in their homes and then assisted in smuggling them out of the country. Rene said that each family kept its own secrets about hiding one of the airmen so that if questioned they would know nothing of others in the town. A one point the Le Cren family was hiding five airmen at the same time. One night Rene and some young friends broke into a neighboring town hall to steal shoe tickets that could be redeemed for new shoes for the airmen.
In 1947, Rene arrived in New York on a troopship. He went to see a friend of his father who had a barbershop in the garment district, but since he could not speak a word of English he could not work there.
But to survive without money, he went to work in a restaurant as a dishwasher and there learned a bit of English. Two months later, a friend from Brittany introduced him to the Chef at the Plaza Hotel and he was hired as an apprentice.
He started in the decorating section and, in the next weeks and months, quickly advanced to cleaning chickens, then fish and soon after, cook for the employees. He apparently impressed the Chef, who promoted him to night Saucier, where he learned the business of sautéed items and sauce preparation. After 18 months, he was made the Chef Saucier, one of the highest ranking jobs in the kitchen.
In 1952, he left the Plaza for a short stint at the Ambassador Hotel as Banquet Chef. A few weeks later he was engaged to work for the inauguration of Juscelino Kubitschek, the president of Brazil, followed a week later for a grand dinner for Rafael Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican Republic.
Upon return to the United States, he did some short term work at a New York restaurant and then the Executive Chef at the Plaza re-hired him, this time as Banquet Chef. After six months he was promoted to Sous Chef, the top job under the Executive Chef. The Executive Chef, Mr Gatti, resigned in 1960 and Rene had to do the job as both Executive Chef and Sous Chef. He worked most of 1960 without a day off. Finally the General Manager promoted him to Executive Chef but paid him $2000 a year less than his predecessor.
In 1963, he took a job as Organizing Chef at the soon to be opened New York Hilton along with 17 Plaza Hotel employees. He worked there until 1968. In the next few years, he worked at the Roosevelt Hotel and then the Commodore Hotel. After seven years he worked at the New York University Club for three years and then, when his knees gave out took his social security and retired to Cutchogue, in the late 70’s.
Those who knew him saw a warm friendly man, eager to tell his stories and share his life.
He is buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Cutchogue.
* From Dylan Thomas “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.”
Submitted 9/19/2011 - NPPOA Historian, John Barthel