Life and Times
Lucien Olivier (1838–1883) was a chef trained in classic, French haute cuisine. It is unclear whether he was French or Belgian born; there is very little material available on his life. He spent his career in Moscow.
With a business partner, Yakov Pegov, he founded the famous Hermitage Restaurant in Moscow in 1864.
To Olivier is credited the invention of Russian Salad, or Salade Olivier, as it is known as in Russia to this day.
At the very beginning of March 1881, he was in the same train to Berlin as Nikolai Grigorevich Rubinstein, who died a few days later at Paris. [1]
He died in Moscow in 1883 at the age of 45. He was buried in Vvedenskoye Cemetery in Moscow. His tombstone reads, “from friends and acquaintances.”
Literature & Lore
Disregard spurious claims that Olivier invented “Beef Stroganoff” and “Salad Bagration.”
Sources
[1] Tchaikovsky. “Letter to the Editor. The Last Days of the Life of N. G. Rubinštein”. Published in the Moscow Register 23 March 1881.