Sandrine's Chef Knighted by French

Although most knights exist only in fairy tales, Harvard Squares’ Raymond E. Ost, chef and co-owner of Sandrine’s Bistro, was knighted yesterday with the medal of the French Order of the Mérite Agricole.

Boston’s Consul General of France, Francois Gauthier, presented Ost with the honor in Gauthier’s Cambridge home.

The French government award recognized Ost’s culinary career, which spans nearly four decades.

It also honored his promotion of French cuisine and his use of local ingredients in his dishes.

Gauthier indicated that approximately three to five people in the US receive the distinction each year, and that he was the individual who had nominated Ost for the highly selective honor.

Past recipients of the award include culinary luminaries Julia Child, who introduced French cuisine to the American palate, and Jacques Pépin, a French chef and television personality currently working in the US.

“France is probably the only [country] to recognize the great cause of food,” Gauthier said before pinning the medal on Ost’s suit jacket.

His speech also referenced another of Ost’s culinary accomplishments: cooking for the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi’s 800 wedding guests.

After Ost accepted the medal, Gauthier followed by proposing “a toast to Raymond, and a toast to French-American friendship.”

“Great things are at stake when it comes to food,” said Gauthier in an interview after the ceremony.

He lauded the chef for helping “pass on the value of French gastronomy and respect for food.”

Ost, whose French cuisine bears an Alsatian twist, found out about the honor when a certificate arrived in the mail a few weeks ago, although the actual medal was not included in the package that he received.

“[The certificate] was telling me that I received the reward, but you have to buy the medal...so the French Consul bought the medal,” Ost said.

The Ordre du Mérite Agricole was originally established in 1883 by Jules Méline, then Minister of Agriculture, to recognize contributors to French agriculture. An estimated 340,000 people have been named “chevaliers”—or knights—since 1883.

The order has three ranks: chevalier, officier, and commandeur.

After Ost’s knighting, the 60 attendees, which included close friends and family as well as local officials, sampled the French truffles and pastries which Ost and his culinary team had prepared for dessert.

Born in the Alsatian town of Strasbourg, Ost cooked in kitchens around the world before he finally decided to settle down and make his home in Boston.

In 1996, Ost first opened Sandrine’s Bistro, named for his daughter, after a stint as the executive chef of Le Meridien Boston, a restaurant in the city.

The newly minted knight said that he appreciated all the support he has received.

“All my friends are here, and that means more to me than the medal,” Ost said.

But diners at Sandrine’s Bistro won’t be glimpsing the medal on the restaurant’s walls anytime soon.

Ost said the award will remain at home.

“Nobody cares,” Ost said.

He added, laughing, “Maybe somebody would steal it.”

—Staff writer Lingbo Li can be reached at lingboli@fas.harvard.edu