Peter Mayle once wrote that Chez Etienne was his favourite Marseille restaurant for lunch and it seems he is not alone.
As the locals say, ‘Il faut absolument passer, un fois, dans sa vie, chez Etienne’.
Even Gault & Millau call it a ‘veritable institution’.
Mayle was charmed by the old owner’s stance: no telephone, no menu, no reservations and no credit cards. I couldn’t wait to visit!
It’s a tiny restaurant tucked away in the Panier, really busy when we managed to find it yesterday, but we did squeeze into a table. ‘Calamares or pizza?’ asked the server. Mayle really wasn’t kidding about the lack of menus.
My companion enjoyed a plate of calamares, with the bowl of salad and bread that came to the table. My pizza came some time after she had finished….but I was so busy looking around, I really didn’t mind. The walls are covered with memorabilia of the Cassaro family who arrived from Sicily in 1943. They opened up their restaurant to provide good Italian cooking for the local labourers who probably didn’t care about choice. Yesterday, dessert was tarte feuilletées aux pommes or…tarte feuilletées aux pommes, no coffee available with milk.
We loved it – the food was excellent and inexpensive. Great ambiance and friendly service too. Sadly Etienne died in August. He sounds like he was such a character and I’m sorry not to have got there sooner. But he has a son and it looks as though the family are carrying on with their gastronomic tradition.
Chez Etienne is at 43 rue Lorette and I do have a telephone no: 04 91 54 76 33 – and you didn’t really expect a website! Cash only. Closed Sundays.
Thanks to Karen for introducing me to this ‘veritable institution’.
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