'Non, non,” Marc Veyrat instructs one greenhorn gourmet. “You must scrape the flour from the side of the bowl, and then dig your spoon right down to the bottom. You have to eat some of the pumpkin and some of the froth of smoked pork fat and some of the flour in each mouthful. That’s the way the dish must be eaten.” It seems wise to do as he says. He wears a big hat, and has big boots, big hands, and a big reputation. Marc Veyrat, 50, is the Tiger Woods of the pro kitchen. He is the chef of chefs. The Michelin Guide, the French gourmets’ bible, which establishes the pecking order among the good, the great, and the gastronomic, has just awarded him six stars. That’s three for his restaurant L’Aubeige de I’Eridan at Veyrierdu-Lac, near Annecy, which is open from May through November, and a further three for La Ferme de Mon Pere, the replica of a traditional Savoyard farmhouse—complete with live-in cows, sheep, pigs, and goats—that he built in the bijou ski resort of Megeve, which is open from December through March. In the pared-down vocabulary of Michelin-speak, one star indicates a very good restaurant in its category; two stars, excellent cooking, worth a detour; and three stars, the culinary Everest for most French chefs, exceptional cuisine calling for connoisseurs to make a special journey. Eating chez Veyrat is not just a multi-course gastro-roller-coaster—he offers the 9-course Menu Sonate for F900 ($ 124) and the 12-course Menu Symphonie for F1,400 ($193) at both restaurants—but each course may well be made up of several elements. Twelve courses on and the flavors are still ricocheting around the taste buds, but, hey, there’s still room for more, Just. Veyrat uses no butter or fat in his cooking, so each dish has a particular lightness and clarity. And if some of them seem to come from somewhere on the far side of exotic, well, says Veyrat, “The essence of my cooking is nature.” And he’s a force of nature, no doubt.