For Chef Michel Jean, the journey to upstate New York began in an equally bucolic region—the South of France. He
was born in Salon de Provence where he returned, with wife Patricia, to create a fine dining restaurant featuring the
region’s pungent flavors and exceptional Mediterranean ingredients: farm-fresh meats, poultry and seafood. Returning
to New York City to work at Régines and Le Cirque, the Jeans mastered the ropes of Manhattan’s culinary power scene.
In 1986, the restaurant Provence was born and Michel and Patricia lured the uptown crowd downtown to their Soho
location creating instant buzz.


The Provence-inspired menu, which offered steak frites, Pissaladière, rabbit and fresh vegetables grown in upstate NY,
was an immediate hit, and on every critic’s Top 10 list.


In 2000, the Jeans launched a restaurant at Tamarack Preserve in Millbrook, NY, serving game, trout and produce
from the fields and streams surrounding this private club. Michel was convinced it was time to open his own restaurant
in the Hudson Valley and in 2005, he and Patricia reopened The Stissing House.