Partners
Michel Briand is the Executive Pastry Chef of the Mon Ami Gabi Division of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc (LEYE).
Briand joined LEYE in 1994 and now oversees all the pastry and dessert production for Mon Ami Gabi (with locations in Chicago, Oak Brook, Las Vegas, and Bethesda), Café Ba Ba Reeba! (Chicago and Las Vegas) and Stripburger in Las Vegas.
Born in La Guerche de Bretagne, France, Briand was raised in the pastry business working with his father Yves, also a pastry chef, at the family-owned patisserie in La Guerche. Briand trained for several years with his father before continuing his training in Bern, Switzerland and Paris.
In 1994, Briand was working at Little Dix Bay Resort in Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands when he was approached by LEYE Founding Partner Charles Haskell who was a guest at the resort. Briand accepted the offer to work for LEYE, first working at Everest, then at Avanzare, finally landing at Ambria in the winter of 1994. Briand remained at Ambria as its Executive Pastry Chef until its closing on June 30, 2007. During that time, Briand worked closely with Chef/Partner Gabino Sotelino, assisting in the transformation of Un Grand Café to Mon Ami Gabi and assisting in the opening of Mon Ami Gabi and Eiffel Tower Restaurant in Las Vegas. Working with Sotelino, founder Rich Melman and Executive Partner Christopher Meers, Briand says he has "learned a lot working with a terrific team of people who have tremendous respect for each other and come to the table with great ideas and a lot of experience in the restaurant business."
Briand lives in Evanston with his wife.