Known for its enchanting setting at the entrance to the Vallon des Auffes, renowned for its cuisine oriented towards the sea, L’Epuisette closes its doors this December 31 and it is a page that is turning for the team as well as for the gourmets, regulars of this Marseille table.
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The year 2024 ends this evening and with it disappears an institution of Marseille gastronomy, anchored in Vallon des Auffes since 1939. No service for New Year’s Eve at L’Epuisette, the last reservations have been canceled . The walls are already bare, the reception room emptied of its furniture. The move is almost complete. The Michelin-starred restaurant definitely draws the curtain this Tuesday, December 31. A heartbreak for the owner of the brand, Bernard Bonnet: “It’s a huge sadness for the whole team.”
The Epuisette adventure ends in Marseille, the team of starred chef Guillaume Sourrieu emptied the premises on December 31, 2024.
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© Cédric Cottaz/FTV
“There will never again be a Landing Net in Vallon des Auffes”bitterly notes Bernard Bonnet, who is living his last minutes within these walls, taken back by his family 48 years ago. “Maybe one day somewhere else, maybe one day differently”he adds.
Even if he thinks about it, the time has not yet come to bring new projects to fruition. Bernard Bonnet wants to take the time to breathe after an exhausting year. “How did we get here?” he still wonders.
The chef of l’Epuisette Guillaume Sourrieu dismantles the kitchens where he has worked for 24 years.
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© Cédric Cottaz/FTV
In the small valley, a page is turning for the inhabitants. A piece of their history disappears and they don’t understand why. “Another chef from elsewhere who comes to work here and takes the place of someone who has been there for years, that hurts our hearts a little”confides Milo.
Nearly 10,000 people signed the online petition initiated by Michelin-starred chef Guillaume Sourrieu, who has been in the kitchen at l’Epuisette for 24 years. This was not enough, on this last day of the year, the new management will collect the keys.
“I’m leaving these places without leaving them since the buyers are taking us over, it’s an obligation, I’m the chef in the future project, I’m waiting to see what exactly they want to do and what they’re going to do for me. ask to do”explains Guillaume Sourrieu, with a pang in his heart, while dismantling his kitchen.
New brand, new team
Selected by the Metropolis following a call for tenders to occupy these places full of culinary memories, the Nîmes hotel group The Social Club will soon open its new restaurant here. He promises a “new high-end gastronomic experience” with starred chef Coline Faulquier, finalist of season 7 of Top Chef in 2016. The new team will reveal the details of its project, and therefore the name of the new restaurant at the start of the year.
Article written with Cédric Cottaz, journalist from France 3 Provence-Alpes.
