His cuisine was known to all Lorraine people in France. On the night of Monday to Tuesday February 23, 2021, the starred chef Marcel Keff took his own life, as announced The Republican Lorrain. While his restaurant Lorraine, located in the city of Zoufftgen, was going through an unprecedented crisis following government restrictions, the latter ended his life in the very restaurant for which he fought so hard. A follower of traditional and refined cuisine, showcasing local products, the sixty-three-year-old man had the joy of seeing his establishment enter the Michelin guide in 2006. A dream that finally came to an end net a year ago when the certification body withdraw his star. The start of a descent into hell for the chef.
More than a starred chef, an "ambassador" of his region
"Marcel Keff was a great chef. He combined Lorraine traditions and haute cuisine. Self-taught and free, he was an institution in Zoufftgen and a reference everywhere else. Tonight we mourn him. All my thoughts are with his family and loved ones ", lamented Isabelle Rauch, LREM deputy for Moselle. Michel Paquet, mayor of the city, meanwhile greeted the one he considered "an ambassador " : "This February 23, 2021 will remain a sad day for many of us. Thank you Marcel, your name will forever be associated with Zoufftgen", he wrote on social media.
Marcel Keff has dedicated his life to cooking. In 1980, the apprentice chef took over a small inn in Zoufftgen with his wife and decided to give birth to his most exquisite dishes. In 2017, after ten years of success, Marcel Keff retired and passed the torch to his son, Lucien. A symbolic pass for this passionate chef who dreamed of seeing his cuisine perpetuated from generation to generation. Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2020, everything stops, Lorraine loses its Michelin star. If the son of Marcel Keff perseveres and maintains the course of the restaurant, he decides to leave the ship anyway February 22, 2021, one day before the death of his father: "It is with a heavy heart that I leave the house where I grew up. A page turns", he wrote on Facebook. A statement that today leaves a bitter taste …
It is with great emotion that I leave the kitchens of La Lorraine.Life sometimes has good as …
Posted by Restaurant La Lorraine Zoufftgen on Monday, February 22, 2021
Marcel Keff was a great chef.
It combined Lorraine traditions and haute cuisine. Self-taught and free, he was an institution in Zoufftgen and a reference everywhere else.
Tonight we mourn him.
All my thoughts are with his family and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/nqRUD0wVXX– Isabelle Rauch (@IsabelleRauch) February 23, 2021
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