Bistro Barberet & Bakery first eatery in US to earn World’s French Restaurant label | Food

In France last month, a Lancaster restaurant and bakery added to its growing list of accolades. Bistro Barberet & Bakery on East King Street, run by pastry chef Cedric Barberet and his wife, Estelle, is the first restaurant in the United States to receive the relatively new World’s French Restaurant designation.

Cedric Barberet received the designation from the Association Française des Maîtres Restaurateurs — the French Association of Master Restaurateurs — during a conference in late March at the Palais du Gouvernement in Nancy, in the Lorraine region of France.

The gold World’s French Restaurant plaque that’s now on the front of the restaurant and bakery at 26 E. King St. signifies that the eatery is an authentic French restaurant that operates to a certain standard, Barberet says.

“The label tells the customer ‘this restaurant is a true French restaurant that does everything from scratch,’ ” Barberet says.

The professional restaurant association in France, which is overseen by the French government, has a Master Restaurateur designation for French restaurants in France.

In 2021, the association created the new label, World’s French Restaurant, for French restaurants in countries outside France. Several chefs and eateries around the world have received the designation since.

Both designations are “to promote French gastronomy,” Barberet says. “But to a certain standard.

Cedric Barberet stands on a balcony at the Palais du Gouvernement in Nancy, France, during a conference of the French Association of Master Restaurateurs in late March.

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“The base of it is … everything needs to be house-made, from scratch — sauces, everything,” he says. “We do everything [from scratch] here. We even do our own smoked salmon in house.”

Sustainability is part of the designation, Barberet says, including “working with local farmers, local businesses, so we minimize the impact of the carbon [footprint].

“It has to do with how we work and who we work with,” he adds. “Everything that has an impact on how a restaurant operates.

“Working with French [food] labels is also very important,” he says.

Barberet says his eatery had to go through a 70-point audit to apply for the new designation — an audit conducted through Eurofins, an international company that has a location in New Holland.

The Barberets also had to submit documentation on how their staff has been trained in the past and how they plan to continue employees’ culinary education in the future.

Cedric and Estelle Barberet, center stand with the staff of their Bistro Barberet & Bakery in front of the new World’s French Restaurant plaque at the eatery, 26 E. King St., Lancaster. It’s the first restaurant in the United States to receive the designation.

BISTRO BARBERET & BAKERY

Through working with public relations firms that work with the French embassy and consulate in the United States, Barberet hopes his restaurant’s designation will get the attention of those in larger cities who are looking for an authentic French culinary experience.

That, in turn, he hopes, will shine a light on the culinary scene in Lancaster in general.

“Every restaurant that succeeds is great for the community,” Barberet says. “If some other places get great coverage, it’s also good for us restaurateurs and good for the restaurants. It’s also good for other businesses in the area because the area is promoted.”

Barberet says his restaurant’s international designation is a reflection of hard work on the part of his staff.

Barberet says he will be an ambassador for the World’s French Restaurant label and will soon begin working on a program to help young American restaurant employees get training with professionals in France.

The other two chefs given the World’s French Restaurant designation at the conference in March were chef Jerome Vuillermoz of Le 31 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and Frederic Berkmiller of L’Escargot Bleu, Edinburgh, Scotland.

This isn’t the first honor received by Barberet, who trained as a pastry chef in France, previously worked at such restaurants as Philadelphia’s Le Bec-Fin and Buddakan and baked the Mar-a-Lago wedding cake for Donald Trump’s 2005 marriage to Melania Trump.

Last year, he was named an Honored Academicien by the Academie Culinaire de France for his service for that academy’s mission of promoting French culinary culture in America. In 2017, he received the Chevalier de l’Ordre du Merite Agricole from the French ministry of agriculture.

In an episode that aired in April 2020, Barberet earned $10,000 by winning the Food Network’s “Chopped Sweets” competition.

In 2016, Barberet was named one of the top 10 pastry chefs in the country by Dessert Professional Magazine.

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