PALM BEACH DAILY NEWS
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Jeffrey Langlois
(enlarge photo)
While Thierry Beaud calls business 'good,' Reid Boren says, 'The best measure of success is in the amount or repeat business we're seeing.'
Jeffrey Langlois
(enlarge photo)
Owners Reid Boren and Thierry Beaud find themselves on the same side of the bar, unlike their first meeting at Au Bar.
Jeffrey Langlois
(enlarge photo)
With half of its 18 investors from Palm Beach, Pistache tries to match Manhattan's numerous and popular French bistro/brasseries.
Jeffrey Langlois
(enlarge photo)
The 7,500-foot bistro on Clematis Street features a bar with 160 indoor and 35 outdoor terrace seats.
Thierry Beaud and Reid Boren met almost 20 years ago over drinks at Au Bar.
Boren, newly arrived in Palm Beach from New York, frequented the then-hot island boîte, while Beaud, originally from Bordeaux, France, managed the place, which closed in the late 1990s.
"We became friends, but on opposite sides of the bar, you might say," Beaud said. "Now, we're on the same side."
Over the years, Boren and Beaud discussed many subjects, but they said they always talked about opening a restaurant together.
Those dreams have become a reality for Boren, now 36, a business investor with interests in local mortgage, title, computer and real-estate firms and an active supporter of several charities, and Beaud, now 40, who has worked in restaurant management at several Palm Beach County establishments, including Café L'Europe and The Breakers' Flagler Steakhouse on the island.
The pair, who both currently reside in West Palm Beach, are the general partners in Pistache, a 7,500-square-foot Clematis Street bistro and bar with 160 indoor and 35 outdoor terrace seats that debuted in late April after a year of serious planning, research and development.
For both men, Pistache is a first in their careers. Boren has never been involved in operating a dining enterprise and Beaud had not before had ownership status at his previous restaurant positions.
To create and operate Pistache, Boren and Beaud developed a business plan based on selling shares of the restaurant to a limited group of investors. "We needed to raise enough capital to cover about $1 million for the buildout and the expenses and overhead for the first year," said Boren.
Last fall, they invited a select group of friends and business associates to purchase a stake in the restaurant. Each share was $50,000 and the partners got support from 18 investors, about half of whom are Palm Beachers, Boren said.
Investors were allowed to purchase no more than three shares, Beaud said. "We didn't want anyone to be so dominant."
Among the islanders who have invested in Pistache are Hotel Biba partner Wisner Miller, private investors Roger Hochstin and Albert Hallac, as well as Hallac's son and daughter-in-law Jeffrey and Jamilette Hallac of West Palm Beach, printing and mailing executive Bob Paltrow and venture capitalist James Harpel.
"Most of our investors are silent partners," said Boren.
"I've known Reid and Thierry for many years and have great confidence in them," said Paltrow, who had participated in backing a restaurant in Aspen, Colo., several years ago. "That wasn't a great experience," he said of his previous investment. "But with Pistache, I feel much more confident, as Reid and Thierry know the area and saw a hole in the marketplace."
Paltrow sees the bistro as filling a niche between high-end, fine-dining-style island establishments and chain restaurants such as those found at CityPlace. "There's nothing in the middle that delivers a high-quality menu at mid-range prices in a great environment," he said. "They saw an opening and, I think, are meeting a demand."
Jeffrey Hallac, a private investor, said that he, his father and wife were struck by Boren and Beaud's concept, which led them to take a stake in the venture. "It's our first time backing a restaurant, but we liked the idea for it and my wife has a great interest in food and was impressed with the menu," he said. Hallac also liked the convenience of having a good restaurant so close to his office.
"We're next door," he said.
The Pistache concept, from Boren's perspective, provides a place to dine and drink that is familiar to those, such as he, who regularly head to Manhattan's numerous and quite popular French bistro/brasseries, such as La Bilbouquet, Balthazar and Pastis. "We don't have anything like that here," he said.
For Beaud, the bistro idea comes naturally to him. "This is the food I grew up with, the type of place I know instinctively."
"We wanted to create a kind of place that's very casual, where people can stop by at any hour for simple French fare," he said. "This is the type of place where you can eat more than once a week, based on the urban Parisian model of the neighborhood restaurant."
To oversee the kitchen, Beaud and Boren hired veteran chef Jean-Pierre Petit, formerly the executive chef at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., and more recently the head chef at Miami's Grand Bay Hotel and South Beach's Le Deux Fontaines restaurant.
"I haven't heard a lot of buzz lately about bistros/brasseries, but that doesn't mean they're not popular," said Annika Stensson, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C., headquartered National Restaurant Association. "There are other hotter trends, like Asian- and Latin American-inspired concepts."
Results of a 2007 survey of more than 1,500 chef members of the American Culinary Federation focusing on what's hot and what's not in the restaurant business concur with Stensson's assessment.
Twenty-two percent of respondents called French cuisine "hot," with 30 percent referring to it as "passé," but 48 percent categorized French fare as a "perennial favorite."
For Boren and Beaud, however, it's the lack of a classic French bistro, one serving everything from onion soup, bouillabaise, frisée salad, steak tartare, croque monsier, moules frites, salad niçoise, steak frites and tarte tatin, in the immediate vicinity that struck them as the right choice for Pistache.
Affordability was also a key concern.
"Our average check for dinner is $35 to $40 per person, said Beaud, pointing out that many items on the menu are significantly lower in price, with sandwiches available for $12 to $15, for instance.
"Our first months have been pretty good," said Beaud.
"The best measure of success is in the amount or repeat business we're seeing," said Boren. "We see that as an indication that we're doing something right."
"We won't know if it's a home run until the end of season next year," said Beaud.
When the "season" kicks in in the next few months, Pistache will likely expand its menu offerings, adding raw bar appetizers and entrées.
A private dining room for parties up to 50 people will also be completed.
In addition, Boren and Beaud expect their outside catering business to pick up with the influx of winter residents and the step up in events on both sides of the Intracoastal Waterway. "We think that will be an important part of our success," said Boren.
IF YOU GO
Where: 101 N. Clematis St., West Palm Beach
Phone: 833-5090
Breakfast
7:30 to 11:30 a.m. daily
Lunch
11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays
Brunch
11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Afternoon menu: 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. daily
Dinner
5:30 to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays
5:30 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Supper
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays through Thursdays
10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays
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