In Madame’s Kitchen
“The Grande Dame of French Cooking in Wisconsin and the Midwest”
“In Madame’s Kitchen” tells the story of the intoxicating, unyielding world of one of Wisconsin’s legendary female chef-entrepreneurs told through my eyes as her young apprentice in the early 1980s. Liane “Madame” Kuony was the renowned creator and chef of The Postilion Restaurants in Fond du Lac and Milwaukee, and founder of a national line of chocolate sauces, vinaigrettes and other delicacies sold at Dean & DeLuca and Neiman Marcus. Many viewed her as the “grande dame of French Cooking in Wisconsin and the Midwest,” and “Wisconsin’s answer to Julia Child”.
Madame, in her 60’s when I met her my senior year of high school, served as my most influential mentor: my culinary school, my compass, my heaven and hell as I grew from a teenage boy into a young man. She afforded me a peek into high society during her glorious galas and dinners that attracted the well-to-do and celebrity guests such as Barbara Walters and President Gerald Ford. She taught me the meaning of hard work, the power of passion and the elation and exasperation of perfection. She almost broke me, but the magnetic pull of her world and her deep care for me was so strong I couldn’t let go; like her intensely loyal guests and cooking students, I wanted to be a part of the special place she created with her exquisite food and elegant style. This book is my tribute to her, her mentorship, our friendship and her divine cooking traditions that I still carry on today. It will reveal for the first time her recipes, which many have never been published.
From “IN MADAME”S KITcHEN” © Andrew M. Ruggeri, 2024
“Dahlings,’’ Madame said in her French accent, “we are going to have a party next month. We need to get ready.”
It was late May, 1985. Liane “Madame” Kuony (Que-nee), perhaps 70 years young, was my boss, mentor and nationally renowned chef, restaurateur and pioneer of organic food. She ran “The Postilion Restaurant and Culinary School” in one of the unlikeliest of places: Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, a small, rural community an hour north of Milwaukee. Her French cuisine put this small city on the culinary map.
“People drive for hours or fly private planes from throughout the Middle West just to dine at the Postilion,’’ a story in the Feb. 6, 1978 edition of The New York Times recounted.
Every so often, Madame – she insisted on being called Madame as a matter of respect – hosted gala dinners to fete her devoted patrons and dear friends. She served as Director of these grand galas, which I likened to the culinary equivalent of a Broadway show.
Madame was a small but mighty force: She stood 4-feet-11 with long grayish silver hair pulled tightly into a neat bun. Large, brown round-rimmed glasses with gold trim framed her warm but intense brown eyes. She wore custom-made clothing: a blouse, jacket and knee-length skirt with sensible flat shoes for everyday and practical but beautiful knee-length dresses on special days. A coordinating hat topped off her outfit and became her signature.
Madame was confident, charming and full of vigor, even in her advanced years. A finely educated, intensely demanding spitfire of a woman, she lived by one standard: perfection.
She counted on me, her 24-year-old apprentice, to deliver it in every aspect of her gala dinner. I served as her stage manager, maitre d, groundskeeper, housekeeper, server, handyman, errand boy, butcher, driver and more.
I was her workhorse.
I began my culinary apprenticeship with her out of high school in 1980, shortly after her Postilion Great House restaurant opened on Milwaukee’s chic East Side. My interest in cooking sparked at a young age watching my mother in the kitchen and sitting on the stairs peering through the banister during my parents’ “Gourmet Club” dinner parties.
My mother, Mary, and father, Mario, weren’t rich but they enjoyed fine dining and once drove the 67 miles to Madame’s Fond du Lac restaurant. My mother was so taken by the experience that when she read the Postilion was opening in downtown Milwaukee, she and my father decided I should learn the fine art of French cooking from Madame.
I eventually wound up in Fond du Lac a few years later after a building fire closed the Great House, and Madame decided to focus on growing her specialty retail food business.
The northern Wisconsin town is best known for Lake Winnebago, the largest inland lake in the state, and a premier spot for walleye and perch fishing.
In French, Fond du Lac means “bottom of the lake” and this freshwater amenity made it a popular vacation spot for residents of nearby Milwaukee and Chicago. For Madame, a European native, the rural landscape drew her here because it reminded her of the French countryside.
She arrived in 1940 from her hometown of Antwerp, Belgium, via Switzerland, Guatemala, New York City and Milwaukee.
