Bastille Brasserie & Bar

Michelle and Christophe Poteaux opened Bastille Brasserie & Bar in 2006 on Old Town’s N. Royal Street, and then moved to its current, larger location in the Parker Grey neighborhood in 2015. Diners come back again and again for the Poteauxs’ modern version of French cooking that emphasizes the seasons. One example of this sensibility is Chef Christophe’s “Magret de Canard,” the duck breast that has been on the menu for 20 years. The steak-like Moulard duck breast stays the same, but its accompaniments change seasonally. Right now, it’s served with a peach compote and a sherry-hibiscus gastrique, and in past dishes, they’ve served a peppercorn crusted duck.

In fact, Michelle and Christophe do nothing in half measures. With her official title of “pastry chef/owner/fixer of all things”, at Bastille Brasserie & Bar, she and her husband, are constantly tweaking their Parisian-inspired menu. When she wanted to add ice cream to her dessert menu, store-bought ice cream wouldn’t do. So, she found a freezer that would work in the North Royal Street location’s tiny kitchen space, and now she churns up her own scoops in flavors like traditional vanilla bean, Valrhona chocolate, Morello cherry, blackberry, and even prickly pear. Another example of their creativity is: the restaurant serves steak frites, of course, but she asked her husband to come up with his own signature steak sauce.

When Poteaux wanted to open a lunchtime cafe serving galettes and crêpes adjacent to Bastille, with the family in tow, she flew to France to learn the craft behind making the authentic buckwheat version from a native Breton in Saint-Malo at L’Atelier de la Crêpe. Now at Maison Breizh at Bastille, she makes her own seafood rillettes and Brittany-style and Basque-style sausages in-house, while the galettes are made with buckwheat milled in Brittany. “I want to keep it true to Brittany, true to France,” she says.

Jumping into a new chapter of Bastille, now celebrating 20 years in business, Poteaux’s passion for the restaurant industry hasn’t faded. “The restaurant life is ingrained in me,” she says. “I just don’t know how to turn it off or stop it.” Poteaux inherited her father’s zeal for entrepreneurship while growing up in Missouri. She went to culinary school and has moved all around the country, eventually moving to Virginia where she started working as a pastry chef at the Watergate, where she met her husband to be, Chef Christophe.

The couple’s creativity and warm hospitality entices diners to return again and again. “[Alexandria] has a small town feel,” Poteaux says, noting that couples have gotten engaged in the old location and have returned weekly to Bastille for dinner. She has also seen diners who’ve met at the restaurant and became fast friends. “It’s the recognition that we play a small part in every person’s life. That’s Bastille. I’m honored that what we’ve created at Bastille has become a small part of people’s every day lives.”

Visit Bastille Brasserie & Bar at 606 N. Fayette Street Alexandria, Virginia