Raymond Oliver (27 March 1909 – 5 November 1990) was a French chef and owner of Le Grand Véfour restaurant in Paris, one of France's great historical restaurants. Oliver detested nouvelle cuisine, preferring the rich ingredients favored by the chefs in his native Gascony. Oliver, who was born in Langon in the Bordeaux region of France, was the son and grandson of cooks. His maternal grandmother gave him his first instruction in cooking as a boy, and he began his apprenticeship as a chef under h ...