Le Crocodile chef-owner Michel Jacob isn’t a newcomer to winning awards. After almost 30 years at the helm of his elegant French dining establishment in downtown Vancouver, he has scooped up numerous honours.

This year, Georgia Straight readers voted Le Crocodile as the city’s most romantic restaurant in the annual Best of Vancouver issue. And it came second in the fine-dining category behind Osteria Savio Volpe.

Le Crocodile has won the best French restaurant a multitude of times in the Straight’s annual Golden Plates Awards, which are voted on by readers each spring.

In addition, Jacob is a member of the B.C. Restaurant Hall of Fame.

But this month, Jacob picked up an honour of a different sort. For his mastery of gastronomy, the Strasbourg-born chef was named an officer in the Ordre du Mérite agricole by the French government.

France’s consul general for Western Canada, Philippe Sutter, bestowed this prize on Jacob for showcasing the best of French cuisine using ingredients from his home country and the West Coast since Le Crocodile opened in 1983.

“To this ambassador of the art of eating, we say ‘merci’!” Sutter declared in a private ceremony on November 1.