THE PARIS restaurateur René Lasserre was considered one of the most outstanding hosts and showmen of his generation; a man who perfectly understood how to flatter the rich and famous and make them feel at home at his tables.

Lasserre was the son of a restaurateur in Bayonne who died accidentally when René was nine months old. He imbibed his knowledge of food from his mother, Irma, who did the cooking in the family restaurant. He was still not 13 when he left the South for Paris to start work. By the age of 17 he was already chef de rang and ready to begin work in some of the best restaurants of the interwar period: Drouant-East, Prunier, Pavillon d’Armenonville and Lido.

In 1942 he acquired a simple bistro on the Avenue Victor-Emmanuel III (renamed Franklin D. Roosevelt after the war) next to the Grand Palais which had been built for the World Exhibition of 1937. The creation of Lasserre during the Occupation was a feat in itself. With the Wehrmacht living it up in Paris, it was all too easy for a restaurateur to be tainted with the accusation of collaboration. Maxim in the Rue Royale thronged with high-ranking German officers under the management of the Berlin restaurateur Otto Horcher, who was secretly in cahoots with the Vaudable family that owned it.

Lasserre covered his back by feeding résistants such as André Malraux or Jacques Chaban-Delmas. When they came to power after the war they remembered him. In Malraux’s honour Lasserre created his famous pigeon stuffed with foie gras and Malraux returned the favour by having his lunch at Lasserre almost daily.

After the war Lasserre transformed his “shed” with the help of the painter Touchanges, adding a roof that was opened several times in the course of lunch and remained opened throughout dry summer evenings. Lasserre’s heyday began in the Fifties and Sixties, when the tables were occupied by the stars of stage, screen and canvas: Marlene Dietrich, Salvador Dalí (it was his Paris “canteen”), Audrey Hepburn, Romy Schneider and Maria Callas.

It was the period of palatial dining and Lasserre was much more of a grand restaurateur than a chef. The quality of the food was only one reason for eating at his restaurant. Michel Bourdin, chef at the Connaught Hotel in London for a quarter of a century, remembers Lasserre as one of the “three musketeers of hospitality”, along with the owners of the Tour d’Argent and Taillevent, Claude Terrail and Jean-Claude Vrinat. Together they created the organisation Traditions et Qualité to emphasise all aspects of the luxury restaurant. With time this would encompass almost all the three-star restaurants and some of the others not rated so highly by Michelin.

Gastronomy became a form of entertainment; the food played its role together with the sumptuousness of the surroundings and the ballet or theatre even represented by perfect service by a seeming army of men in tails. At Lasserre, doves were released en massse during the gala dinners, soaring up towards and out of the retractable roof while models paraded between the tables. He wanted his customers to keep coming and in 1948 he created the Club des Casseroles. Members were issued with a little silver saucepan which afforded a few extra privileges in the restaurant.

Although diners were lured in by the stately lift, the open roof or the pianist who played in the evenings, the food was never neglected. Lasserre personally styled all the dishes in the early days. He received his first Michelin star in 1949, a second was awarded in 1952, and the supreme accolade of three came ten years later. The third star was removed in 1982 as the food had failed to keep pace with fashion, but it remained one of Paris’s best-loved tables for all that, and it is an indication that Lasserre was still in the front rank that a period of training in the kitchens was considered important for top chefs such as Gérard Boyer, Jacques Lameloise, Jean-Paul Lacombe or Michel Rostang. Certain dishes, like the Lasserre canard à l’orange, have been accepted as classics.

Lasserre sold part of the business to international investors in 1998 and retired five years ago, when he handed over the reins to his “second”, Louis Canfaïlla. He remained a presence in the restaurant, however, and continued to enjoy the pomp of fine dining to the last. His son, Claude, and his daughter-in-law died in an aircraft accident the day after Lasserre’s own death.

Lasserre is survived by his wife and daughter.

René Lasserre, restaurateur, was born on November 12, 1912. He died on March 15, 2006, aged 93.

CLASSIC LASSERRE: CANARD À L’ORANGE

Take one large Nantes duckling and six oranges. Sear the duckling in butter, cover and cook gently for 45 minutes. Baste with 10cl of Grand Marnier and leave to simmer for a few minutes.

Take the duck from the casserole and keep warm. Add to the cooking juices a tablespoonful of sugar, a good splash of vinegar, a small ladle of orange juice and 15cl of brown stock. Bring the liquid to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes, skimming to remove impurities and fat, then pass through a fine sieve.

Season the sauce and add 5cl of Mandarin liqueur. Place the oranges, quartered and pared, in a separate pan and add a little of the sauce. Bring to the boil then remove immediately from the heat.

The duck is served on a long silver platter, surrounded by the quartered oranges and some of the sauce. The remaining sauce is served separately.

Accompany with soufflé potatoes.