aixcentric

No sign of Burger King, Librarie de Provence still empty, Bistrot Romain no more, and the venerable Les Deux Garcons for sale. It’s all change in the cours Mirabeau!

Starting with Les Deux Garcons, which over the centuries has served artists like Cézanne, Cocteau and Picasso, actors like Delon and Belmondo, writers like Camus and Giono and countless tourists eager to see this iconic Aix brasserie, things have not been going well.

In April there was a cessation de paiement, followed in May by an announcement of its liquidation judiciare.  Aixcentric followers may remember the next step when the café was closed down for a week in June for infringements of local laws….fermature administrative.  This hit hard as it was the start of the tourist season and they claim to have lost around 150,000€ in takings.  As if that wasn’t enough, the ‘architecte des batiments de France’ arrived and ordered the dismantling of the conservatory at the front (see my photo from earlier in the year).  Parasols didn’t provide enough protection from the summer heat, especially as the terrace has lost its shady plane trees.

A perfect storm.

According to La Provence, my invaluable source for much of this post, they were allowed to keep trading as it is such an institution in town, and of course 40 employees depend on their work there.

It’s up for sale, and six groups have signalled interest so far, from Aix, France and abroad.  Interested?  You have til 10th September to throw your hat in the ring.

Meanwhile down the cours a few paces, conversion of Quick into Burger King, supposed to be completed for a January 2019 launch, has ground to a halt due to a ‘probleme complexe et insoluble’.  So what’s the story?  It seems that Quick, opened back in 1980, had the authorisation to use a courtyard at the back.  With agreement, they covered it and converted it into a kitchen as they needed to utilise this space to make the restaurant functional.  But times have changed and with it the owners of the courtyard.  Burger King, who run a 13000 restaurants franchise, now don’t have sufficient space, and in addition have been asked to restore the courtyard.  Legal quagmire ensues. La Provence recommend a trip down to Aix La Pioline for anyone desperate for a Whopper.

Down the cours a bit further and there is a new name in town: Cambarou. I dropped in there for a coffee this morning and was fairly astonished to have to pay 4.20€ for a small café crème.  I was mollified though when I went into the loo, as they have the best Ladies in the cours…..ground floor so very accessible and sparkling clean. I decided it was worth the extra euro.  The terrace is very plain, furniture a rather featureless ‘greige’ but it’s lovely inside.  That’s when I realised it was the old Bistrot Romain.  It’s been given quite a facelift but there are still the old ceiling frescos that Cézanne must  have seen when he visited the Mistral as it was then.  I hadn’t realised that Bistrot Romain is a nation-wide chain of 36 restaurants, owned by Flo.  They also own the Hippopotamus chain and have decided to morph all their Bistrot Romains into Hippopotami I suppose they should be called grammatically.  Anyway there is already one nearby (at the Rotonde) so they have called this ‘Cambarou’ which is a good deal smaller: a Provencal shrimp.  That’s the clue to menu which is based on planchas of seafood, octopus tentacles and all.  They also have Provencal-inspired cocktails and a delightful bar.

And finally, the late lamented Librarie de Provence which closed in April and is still empty. This is another legal saga as it occupied different levels of the building which is divided between 5 proprietors.  There are companies interested, but the owners have to decide how to slice and dice the space.  They hope to have a resolution in a month or two….as La Provence says, dossier a suivre!