Lhe Saint-Pierre district has just lost one of its figures. Probably one of the last. Fabien Touraille, emblematic boss of Petit Commerce died this weekend in Bordeaux. He was 60 years old. An epicurean and an alchemist. Epicurean, because he passionately loved parties, friends, and in short life. Alchemist too. They can be counted on the fingers of one hand, these “bosses”, who include a simple restaurant in the intangible heritage of a city. Le Petit Commerce has attracted into its orbit all the Bordeaux galaxies: lawyers, business leaders, cops, celebrities, artists… Upper bourgeois and semi-salt, side by side, drowned in the same hubbub. Everyone was greeted with the same manners, with little care whether they were good.
“He was getting a thrill”
“In 2005, I was walking rue du Parlement-Saint-Pierre, the Petit Commerce sign was being painted there, I said to myself that it was a genius idea. I meet Fabien, ask him what he was planning to do: something simple around fish. We became friends, says Jean-Pierre Xiradakis, from Tupina. A guy with crazy tenderness, incredibly sensitive, a huge heart. He had this magic, this sense of staging, he gave the thrill even before having seated the customer at the table. People don't imagine the convictions, the work, the reflection and sensitivity that are required. These things that mean that there are good and bad restaurateurs. He didn't care about the money, he went to meet people. He loved to do. »
Change in the neighborhood
A figure born in Limoges. He moved to Bordeaux at the age of 21, and went wherever the wind took him: plumbing, printing, real estate, fishmongers… He also worked behind the counter at Cafecito, a myth of Bordeaux nightlife at the end of the century. In this same rue du Parlement-Saint-Pierre which he will make his temple.
They can be counted on the fingers of one hand, these “bosses”, who include a simple restaurant in the intangible heritage of a city
This is where he launched his first business in 2003: Le Bulot boldi. Two years later, he bought a tinsmith, run for decades by the Gardel family. Le Petit Commerce becomes the spearhead and flagship of the transformation of the Saint-Pierre district. He told anyone who would listen about having unearthed the magnificent zinc counter which stood in his restaurant in a former brothel, rue du Pont-de-La-Mousque. On the wall, paintings by Bordeaux artists whose first steps were guided by Fabien Touraille. Above all, he demonstrated that the container is less important than the content. As long as the spirit breathes.
He will extend his canvas throughout the street, adding the Petit Commerce cellar and a third location, La Pêcherie. This small kingdom will employ up to 35 employees. “He had a genius for the place and the people. An ability to understand and save the moment, to transform a banal aperitif into a timeless encounter. It was burlesque, tender and poetic. We often came out surprised and in no time,” observes Yves Harté, former columnist for “Sud Ouest”. He ended up selling this “work” a few years ago. “There was a magic in Fabien,” says Jean-Pierre Xiradakis. This profession cannot function without openness, without a spirit of curiosity. It's stupid what I'm going to say but you have to love people. Fabien loved them more than he loved himself. We loved him. »
