Antoine Thomas

"It's true what they say, Tastes like chicken."

- Antoine Thomas, upon Chuck's arrival

Antoine Thomas, also known as Chef Antoine, is a psychopath appearing in Dead Rising 2 during the mission Tastes Like Chicken. He is the owner of Antoine's, a cookware store in Royal Flush Plaza, and calls himself "The King of Cuisine". He was going to be interviewed by a reporter from a famous food magazine, but the zombie outbreak in Fortune City destroys his chance at fame. Unfortunately for Chuck and other sane survivors, he's still under the delusion that the reviewer is on his way, and is using anything that the outbreak can provide to create the perfect dish.

Tastes Like Chicken
Chuck encounters him while searching for a survivor named Cinda Smith in the Cucina Donnacci restaurant in the Food Court. Antoine mistakes Chuck for the magazine reporter, and offers him a meal made from "ingredients" nobody has dared to imagine. His preparation for his meals reveals that he has taken Cinda hostage, and hints that he plans to kill her and serve her as another dish made from human flesh. Chuck insults Antoine by saying "Who the hell would want to eat THIS?!", possibly after realizing it's made out of human meat. Antoine, having been infuriated picks up a chef knife and implies that he will make Chuck into one of his dishes and attacks.

After he is defeated, he attempts to support himself on a fryer, but his hand slips, plunging his arm and head into the boiling grease, burning and drowning him to death. Once Antoine is killed, Chuck is given the opportunity to unlock the freezer and rescue the captive barkeep inside.

Tactics
thumb|300px|right|Antoine Fight

Melee

 * The best possible way to beat Antoine is for sure, the Burning Skull. This weapon will DESTROY Antoine in a record time of 5-6 seconds. It can be made right there in the Food Court.
 * Note that the Burning Skull may be slightly difficult to use, as it is considered a heavy weapon. Thus, you have to pick it back up if Antoine hits you with any attack. An effective technique that combines the speed of the Knife Gloves with the damage of the Burning Skull is to create some Flaming Gloves out of items that you can find in the Food Court (there is a pair of Boxing Gloves on top of a payphone in the Food Court, and Motor Oil can be found in the Wild West Grill House). The strategy is to simply start beating on Antoine until he runs off to restore his health. When this happens, run up to him and either execute a Double Leg Drop Kick to keep him from restoring any more health, or keep punching him while he eats (this is stlil a viable tactic, as you should be able to inflict more damage that he heals). If you are hurt, exit to the Food Court and find something to eat in one of the nearby restuarants. This tactic allows you to take Antoine down quickly and with little effort.
 * A perfect weapon against Antoine is the Knife Gloves. Run up near him while he is eating and attack him a few times two times may be best, he can hit you after you hit you three times, but you can dodge it if you're quick; he will attack with his frying pan, but sometimes, he will run away again instead of forcing his food into Chuck's mouth. The frying pan always deals one damage, his grabbing sequence one or two. If you're low on health, be sure only to hit him twice and quickly run. If you have to heal (it's recommended that he first stop by the steak house next door for food), try to do it while Antoine is doing is ranged attack, obviously while hiding behind something. Otherwise, he will either melee you (he is REALLY fast) or will heal himself by eating dishes both in the kitchen and outside, on the tables. Stand behind cover, or simply keep moving in a perpendicular motion for his ranged attacks (frying pans, plates, cleavers, food), and wait for him to start healing again. You might want to attack him with a ranged weapon if he's too far away to run to him, not for damage but to interrupt his heal. Repeat attacking him while he is most vulnerable, while keeping an eye on Chuck's health. Make no more than a three-hit combo against him while he is eating, and turn away immediately (possibly with a jump or roll as well) once he finishes. A better way to deal damage is to dodge his pan and attack him twice, then dodge again. The only problem may be that you can easily get stuck because of a wall/chair/zombie and his attack will hit you. So be sure to have four health points or more before trying that.
 * If Chuck has no other options available use the kitchen knives. You could use the frying pans as well, but the knife is way more effective. Sidestep/avoid his melee attacks with his frying pan and attack twice each time. After about 4 strikes (the 4th his reaction time is fastest so expect to get hit) he will run for food. Antoine will always run for food, when you run away from him too far, or use his ranged attack.
 * Attacking him while he is already doing his pan attack may interrupt it, don't expect it to do so, though.
 * If a zombie walks into Antoine's path, he will attack it. Sometimes he also attacks zombies that get too close to him. You can use this moment to attack him, you can even shoot him if you're already having a gun in your hands, switching to it will most likely take too much time.
 * Chuck can also take him down by rushing him down with the paddle saw at every opportunity. Expect to lose some health if you use this method however.
 * Another strategy is to drive the Sports Car into his kitchen, and repeatedly ram him against the walls with it.
 * Yet another tactic is to pick up Jasper, located nearby at the hamburger stand (jump on top of the vending machines to get to him), arm him with the 2x4 in his hideout, then toss a sticky bomb (lawn dart + dynamite) created in the food court maintenance room onto Antoine after moving Jasper to a safe location. Then use the driller, created in the Royal Flush maintenance room to wail on Antoine while he tries to attack Jasper. Even on the first play through, you should be able to kill him without any need for food, though you might want to heal both yourself and Jasper after the fight, arm Cinda with something from the kitchen, and hurry back to the safe house (using the drink carts, wheelchairs, and trash bins along the way to mow down the zombie hordes) for the next mission and reward.

Ranged

 * Equipping yourself with three sniper rifles will take Antoine down, although the fight will be lengthy. Shoot at him ONCE when he runs to eat (he will deflect all subsequent shots) and then avoid him by running laps around the center structure. Chuck can avoid his ranged attacks by putting a column between himself and Antoine. If done correctly, he can stop Antoine from healing at all and only use 35 shots of the sniper rifle.
 * Another method is recruiting the nearby survivor Jasper from atop the Hamburger Fiefdom and arming him with a firearm (LMG, Merc Assault Rifle). While Chuck "tanks" (keeps aggro) Jasper can fire at the psychopath and kill him within moments. However, be sure to kill Antoine quickly as he can kill Jasper easily with a few hits of his frying pan.
 * The easiest way (although very cheap) to defeat him is to take some survivors (about 4-6) with you and arm them with a good weapon (LMG, Merc Assault Rifle). That way, you don't have to do anything but running around a little bit. The more survivors you have, the better are the chances that none of them will die.
 * Another very easy way is to first go into the Wild West Grill House next to the restaurant. Grab at least three steaks, since they heal your whole health, and take a Meat Cleaver while your at it. Next, go into the Yucatan Casino, and climb the big statue in the middle. At the top, on the platform, there should be a Light Machine Gun(and maybe even a Zombrex, if you haven't taken it already). When you fight Antoine, use a fast weapon with moderate damage, like a Meat Cleaver or a Frying Pan. Attack him while avoiding his attacks, and when he goes to lunch, shoot him with the Light Machine Gun, effectively interrupting his healing process. If you shoot him right when he starts to eat, he won't regain any health at all, making it quite easy to kill him. Repeat until he's dead.
 * For those with little time and bad weapons, grab two pitchforks from the Wild West Grill House, climb up to Jasper's hiding spot, take the two bow and arrows, then go to the maintenance room right of the Restaurant with Antoine, take the stick of dynamite and combine one bow and arrow with the dynamite to make an explosive bow. When Antoine goes melee, stab him three times with the pitchforks, then quickly jump out of his swing. When he throws items at you, hide behind pillars or the stove. when he starts to eat, quickly switch to the explosive bow and shoot him to prevent him from gaining health. This is a fast way to obtain good weapons to defeat Antoine, for those who waited to do this quest, or those who have inadequate weapons to deal with Antoine.

Trivia

 * His voice actor is the same one who voices Big Earl Flaherty.
 * Antoine bears some similarities to Larry Chiang from Dead Rising, both of them being crazed food preparers with a taste for human flesh. They both also run away to heal up by eating, and they both use food as weapons (Larry tosses meat, while Antoine forces an apple down Chuck's throat).
 * The song that plays while fighting him is "Own Little World" by Celldweller.
 * Antoine is the only psychopath that can heal by eating food that he has laid on tables around the whole of the restaurant in Dead Rising 2.
 * When Antoine is killed, a glitch will occasionally occur, causing him to fall through the floor.However,this does not effect his death scene or the game.
 * Antoine's primary weapon is a pan, though he picks up a Chef Knife to attack Chuck before the battle.
 * He has a store in the Royal Flush Plaza called Antoine's. He possibly used to own the restaurant until the outbreak happened and ruined his chance at making the perfect dish, so he took shelter in "Cucina Donnacci's.There is also an ad outside the Royal Flush Plaza showing his store and a picture of a young Antoine.
 * He is one of the few Psychopaths that do not intentionally commit suicide.
 * He is likely a reference to the famous restaurant "Antoine's" located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
 * His name may also be a reference to Marie-Antoine Carême, due to his mention of being the "king of cuisine." Carême was known as the "king of chefs, and the chef of kings"
 * He is also a reference to the famous chef Boyardee both of them being bulky and having a passion for food and cooking.
 * There is a bug when you kill him while he is eating. He will dissapear but the blood stains remain and the cut scene continues.