One of the country’s best chefs opens his famous French bistro in Coral Gables this week

To Chef Thomas Keller, a French-style bistro should be a gathering place for the surrounding community, a spot where neighbors, families and friends can break bread together and celebrate any and all milestones.

Which is a big part of the reason he’s opening his second South Florida restaurant, Bouchon, in Coral Gables.

“A bistro should be a place where people can enjoy in many different ways — brunch, an evening out, a family get-together, first dates, anniversaries,” says the chef who began his career washing dishes as a teenager at a Palm Beach restaurant. “Coral Gables is that kind of a community.”

Best known for his three-star Michelin restaurants The French Laundry in Napa Valley and Per Se in New York as well as the Michelin-starred The Surf Club Restaurant in Surfside, Keller is opening the newest location for his Bouchon bistro in the historic La Palma building on Sept. 9.

Bouchon made its first appearance in 1998 within walking distance of The French Laundry. Since then, Keller has opened outposts in Las Vegas.

After The Surf Club Restaurant opened in 2018, Keller had no plans to open another restaurant in the Miami-Dade area. He hadn’t exactly planned to open The Surf Club, either, he says. But just as The Surf Club property’s intriguing historical charm lured him, so too did the La Palma building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1924, the Mediterranean-style building is formerly the home of the Cla-Reina Hotel and was designed by architect H. George Fink. Developers Jose Ortega and Marc Schwarzberg of Maven Real Estate redeveloped the property.

In addition to the look and the history, Keller felt the space was perfect for the Bouchon style.

“I’m not looking for more restaurants,” Keller says. “It’s not something I actively do. . . .but when I visited, I fell in love with the La Palma property. And it’s in a community that really affords us an opportunity to represent that cultural national pride the French have in their bistros. We want to do that in a real way. I don’t want to say we’re authentic, because we’re not in France, but we want to be as authentic as we can.”

The cuisine at the new bistro will mimic the other Bouchon locations, which means the menu will feature seasonally-changing French cuisine and will include the signature raw bar. Diners will find such specialties as steak frites, mussels with saffron, roast chicken and escargot de Bourgogne.

Designed by Adam D. Tihany of Tihany Design, who also designed the Yountville and Vegas locations, the restaurant will seat around 160 diners with 30 seats in a courtyard. There’s also a private dining space available.

The kitchen team will be led by Chef de Cuisine Thomas Castellon, formerly of The Surf Club and Keller’s Tak Room in New York, which is now closed permanently.

“I’m not the chef here,” Keller is quick to point out. “I’m so proud of people like Tom. All the people working here, we’re so proud of the team. It’s their restaurant to make successful.”

As the dining scene in the Miami area continues its post-pandemic explosion and restaurants open at a rapid pace, Keller isn’t worried that the market will become over saturated with fine dining. What he’s seen take place in Napa Valley, where he lives, shows that new restaurants don’t diminish existing businesses and in fact enhance them.

“People are more sophisticated now,” he says. “When I moved to Napa Valley, there were good restaurants. It was once of the places people came to to learn about food and wine. And now there’s a great democratization of food, from gardeners to farmers to chefs to wineries and service staff. Before, cooks were classified as domestic help, and now everybody involved has become a professional. Success isn’t about one place — it’s a collective effort of different individuals who continue to elevate our profession and communities.”

“Restaurants become cornerstones in a community,” he says. “That’s why people want to live in those communities. And it’s positive for all businesses. Every business sees an uptick in customers whatever business they’re in. It’s fascinating what restaurants can do. That’s why I’m excited about Coral Gables.”

Bouchon

Where: 2101 Galiano St., Coral Gables

Opening: Sept. 9