Paris in Hot Springs

Now you can spend an evening in Paris without having to travel 3,000 miles. For three very special weekends in December, The Park Hotel welcomes celebrated French Chef Philippe Ducrot to Angel’s in the Park restaurant.

This is unlike any dining experience you’ve encountered before: intimate and welcoming, elegant yet relaxed & convivial, delicious yet balanced, traditional yet contemporary.

Chef Ducrot came to Hot Springs to take the healing waters. The Park Hotel enticed him to get behind the spoons & cook up some of his culinary magic. “In Europe, meals last much longer than they do in America”, Philippe said, with the charm of a thick French accent. “Dining is an experience, something to be enjoyed and not rushed through.”

Classically trained and a chef at Paris’ top restaurants (including the famed Polo Club) for twenty years before coming to the US, Philippe Ducrot holds three culinary degrees. But his love of cooking, and the education of his palate began early, in his mothers kitchen and with the simple bistro fare of his native Marseille, a seaport in the South of France. His cuisine draws inspiration from this rich experience. He is known for using uncommon yet delightful combinations of ingredients to create unique harmonies of flavors – and happy surprises to delight his diners.

Ducrot comes to Hot Springs straight from Paris by way of Boston, where he has been Chef Owner of the critically acclaimed Chez Ducrot for the past seven years. He has been featured on CBS TV Chronicle’s Evening Magazine and received acclaim in The Boston Globe, Food & Wine Magazine and South Shore Living Magazine. He offers a range of services from restaurant dining to private dinner parties in your home, cooking classes, catering and special events with a French flair.

“This is the closest restaurant experience you will get to having your own private French Chef cook in your home”, say Rob and Sally Hanold, world travelers and frequent patrons of Ducrot’s. Unlike a typical restaurant, where food is held over from the previous day, Ducrot shops each day & only for the guests who will dine with him that evening. He shops the old-fashioned French way, personally visiting each purveyor to select the freshest and most locally grown ingredients. (He has already been spotted at the weekly Hot Springs Farmer’s Market and has begun relationships with local CSA farmers). This ensures his culinary creations offer the sophistication and subtle harmonies of flavors worthy of his talent and the market to table freshness of a home cooked meal.

Of his own cooking, Ducrot says, “ I grew up on the freshest ingredients; fish fresh that day off the neighbor’s boat, vegetables from my aunt’s garden. The food was alive with flavor and nourishment. I enjoy offering this same experience to my guests – my wish is to delight the palate and nourish the soul.”

Chef Philippe Ducrot at Angel’s in The Park Hotel for three weekends in December: Thursday through Saturday December 8, 9 and 10, Thursday through Saturday December 15, 16 and 17, and Wednesday through Friday December 28, 29 and 30. By reservation only. Limited seating available. For information and reservations call: 617-512-1646.