ABOUT LE BON GARCON
Justin’s passion for food started as a child, watching his Chinese-American mother in the kitchen preparing dinner. Justin grew up in Westlake Village, California, where there were no Chinese grocery stores. Out of necessity, Justin’s mother created dishes from ingredients that were available to her. His mother’s inventive style of cooking combined traditional Chinese food with American comfort food and gave Justin the creative instincts that make him a successful patissier.
Justin studied architecture at the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design which provided him with the design skills and the attention to detail needed to be a successful pastry chef. Always feeling more at home in front of the oven than the drafting table, Justin found himself drawn to a career in the culinary arts. Justin took pastry classes for fun, and studied abroad in Paris. Inspired by the culinary work of Parisian greats such as Pierre Hermé and Gerard Mulot, Justin decided to take the leap as a pastry chef.
Justin enrolled at the prestigious Bellouet Conseil in Paris where he trained under some of the best pastry chefs in the world. After culinary school, he trained at the legendary Le Meurice in Paris. At this 3-star Michelin restaurant, Justin learned the art of pastry to the highest standard.
Justin returned to Los Angeles where he worked at the historic Water Grill in downtown Los Angeles. Justin formed Le Bon Garcon in 2010 as a new culinary adventure.
In order to create the highest quality product possible, Le Bon Garçon uses only the best quality ingredients available and uses no preservatives. Le Bon Garçon uses Plugra butter in order to give its products the flavor and scent that is characteristic of high-quality European butter.
Le Bon Garcon hand-makes, hand-stirs, and hand-wraps its caramels in order to achieve the best quality product. From start to finish, everything is prepared in the artisanal French manner.