Antoine Magnin; French Chef to Jet Set

Antoine Magnin, for decades a darling of the gastronomic jet set, was buried Wednesday in a ceremony attended by some of the clients he once fed at his tiny restaurant.

Magnin was 84 when he died early Saturday and was believed the oldest working chef in France.

“There is a chef still working in Moscow who supposedly is near 100, but we believe Antoine was the oldest chef in this country,” said Pierre Herbillon, manager of food and beverages at Magnin’s L’Ami Louis at 32 Rue du Vertbois.

The restaurant was known for fabulous food and miserable decor that had not changed since Magnin began cooking there in 1930. Although he sold the L’Ami Louis last year, terms of the sale provided that Magnin remain in the kitchen.