First he cracked the code. Then he rewrote it.

French chefs who covet Michelin stars study the restaurants that get them, and the ones that don’t, before deciding where to devote their money and attention. If there is a formula behind the rating system, which for many chefs is an article of faith, almost no one figured it out the first time. Joël Robucho n, who died on Monday at 73, came closer than anyone .

Mr. Robuchon’s first restaurant, Jamin, was given one Michelin star in its first year. It got another in its second, and the next year it climbed to the top step, a three-star ranking. Mr. Robuchon was still in his late 30s.

What could he do for his next trick? There were new dishes to invent, new honors to win, new employees to terrify. The chef Eric Ripert, who was one of them, has said that he still has nightmares about covering plates with the precisely sized and spaced dots of sauce that were a Jamin signature.