GP
The World Jim Lived In

Guy Pacaud

"Chef Paco"

French Chef & 1990 Memphis in May Collaborator

Guy Pacaud, known as "Chef Paco," was a chef from a French bistro who helped Jim Quessenberry choreograph a French terrace setting for their Memphis in May entry in 1990. The collaboration fused French culinary aesthetics with Arkansas pit barbecue — a combination that only Jim could have pulled off without it looking ridiculous.

Chef Paco's involvement shows how Jim's world extended far beyond the Delta. He was the kind of pitmaster who could convince a French chef to help him build a terrace at a hog-cooking contest and make it feel perfectly natural.