For thirty-five years, the Chanticleer Inn was known as a restaurant without peer. Certainly the setting was about as perfect as anyone could wish: multi-paned windows looking out to gardens full of climbing roses and a delightful carousel horse. However, it was the award winning cuisine and exceptional service that were the cornerstones of Inn's international success and reputation.

Berruet began running the Chanticleer in 1970 after Sconset Enterprises offered him the chef position. He had been the personal chef of Nantucket summer resident Earle MacAusland, founder of Gourmet Magazine, but when his three-year arrangement with the MacAusland’s was nearing its end, Berruet got the opportunity to buy the restaurant and in 1973, Berruet bought the Chanticleer and the .87 of an acre it sat on.

Berruet’s and his team’s very hard work, devotion to service and quality quickly laid the foundation for the Inn’s reputation as a food and wine destination. The cuisine was traditional French with an emphasis on local vegetables and fruits as well as products of the sea. All the classic favorites like sweetbreads, foie gras, and truffles were included on the menu, but all were treated in new sensitive and innovative fashion. The menu always also included lobster, rack of lamb, fresh fish and Black Angus steak. The restaurant specialized in private parties and wedding receptions. Cocktails and canapes in the rose garden were followed by luncheon or dinner in one of the four elegantly appointed dining rooms.

In addition to the exceptional cuisine, the Inn’s highly acclaimed wine cellar boasted more than 40,000 bottles of French and California wines, with over 1,200 selections on the list. Meticulously nurtured and added to over the years, the Chanticleer Inn’s wine list was so exceptional that won Wine Spectator's Grand Award since 1987 for "one of the best wine lists in the world."

Berruet relished the restaurant's well-earned reputation as a spot not just for a meal, but for an event akin to a night at the opera. And diners knew that they will not only have an incomparable culinary experience but also would be allowed to linger with impunity, as one might at a Parisian bistro, relaxing after their perfect meal and, more than likely, reliving it avec plaisir, as one would relive a long evening of romance.

Jean-Charles Berruet, like his mentor Charles Barrier, has always insisted on "food preparation on the highest level and service of the finest order." Not only is Berruet acknowleded as a brilliant chef, but by dint of that hard work he always knew would be necessary, his Chanticleer earned its well-deserved status as one of the country's - if not the world's - great restaurants.

With his recent departure, Nantucket has lost an icon of gastronomy. He was the last of a trinity of legendary chefs that included Michael Shannon from the Club Car and Lucien Van Vyve of the Opera House. The trio was responsible for turning the island into a fine dining mecca.