Photo by Tony Brown for Visit Alexandria
Bastille in Old Town Alexandria
Bastille Brasserie & Bar is turning 20, and rather than mark the occasion with a single party, chefs and owners Christophe and Michelle Poteaux are stretching the celebration across all of September.
The couple opened Bastille in 2006 with a straightforward idea: approachable French cooking in the kind of neighborhood restaurant they wanted to run and eat in themselves. Two decades later it remains independently owned, serving modern French brasserie fare at 606 N. Fayette St.
Photo courtesy of Bastille
Michelle and Christophe's French restaurant Bastille is celebrating 20 years in Alexandria.
Icons at 20
The centerpiece is Icons at 20, a one-night dinner on Thursday, Sept. 17 built around dishes that trace the restaurant's history.
The evening opens with a complimentary glass of Jeeper Grand Assemblage Champagne and Michelle Poteaux's gougères, followed by four courses with choices at each. Among the options: heirloom tomatoes with burrata; tuna tartare with Espelette aioli; house-cured foie gras with buckwheat blinis and caramelized fig; seared jumbo scallops with summer white truffle risotto; a petit cassoulet with duck confit, pork belly and Toulouse sausage; bouillabaisse with market fish, prawns and clams; apricot-pistachio bavaroise; and a Valrhona Manjari dark chocolate terrine. The full menu is posted on the restaurant’s website.
Dinner is $155 per person, before tax and gratuity. Wine pairings are being built with Stephane Defot, owner of Z Wines, and Bastille says those details are still to come.
The menu will be served throughout the restaurant that evening and will be the only dinner menu offered, though guests seated in the Bar + Café can also order from the regular bar menu. Parties larger than six must book directly with the restaurant rather than online.
“Twenty years gives you a lot to look back on,” Michelle Poteaux said. “There are dishes, guests, employees and moments that become part of a restaurant's story.”
The 20.06 List
Running all month is The 20.06 List, a rotating selection of bottles priced at $20.06 — a nod to the year the restaurant opened.
“We wanted some of the anniversary celebrations to simply be fun,” Poteaux said. “There aren't many opportunities to turn 2006 into a wine price, so we decided to take advantage of this one.”
Also through September, guests who buy $100 in Bastille gift certificates get a $20 anniversary bonus.
Cake + Bubbles
Two nights after the tasting menu, on Saturday, Sept. 19, Bastille trades formality for a birthday party during regular dinner service. Cake + Bubbles has no ticket and no separate menu — the Poteauxs will send out a small anniversary treat and celebratory bubbles for dinner guests. Reservations are strongly recommended.
“Icons at 20 is our opportunity to celebrate the food,” Poteaux said. “Cake + Bubbles is really about celebrating the birthday with our guests. We wanted that night to feel easy, happy and inclusive.”
Merci, Noemi
The month carries a bittersweet note. Noemi Zelaya, Bastille's longest-serving employee, retires Sept. 18.
“Noemi has given an extraordinary part of her working life to Bastille,” Michelle Poteaux said. “Her dedication and loyalty have meant more to us than we can adequately put into words. We are happy for her as she begins this next chapter, but we are going to miss her terribly.”
For the Poteauxs, the anniversary is as much about the neighborhood as the kitchen.
“Alexandria has been our home for 20 years,” Christophe Poteaux said. “Restaurants only reach milestones like this because people continue to walk through the door.”
The full anniversary lineup is posted on Bastille’s events page. Reservations can be made by phone at 703-519-3776 or online.
Bastille Brasserie & Bar is at 606 N. Fayette St. in the Parker-Gray neighborhood, two blocks from the Braddock Road Metro and five blocks from King Street. Dinner is served Tuesday through Sunday. More at bastillerestaurant.com.
