A customer sitting in the right spot at Chez Fabien clearly will get the message. It’s difficult to miss. Even in the back corner, the pink neon lights spell it out, en francais.

“La Place des Bisous” radiates from a wall in the back room of the Grapevine Main Street restaurant. Translated to English, it means “the place of kisses,” and it’s literally a sign that you’re welcomed to this French bistro in the way of French culture. Bisous, that friendly two-cheek air kiss, signifies affection, friendship and gratitude.

At Chez Fabien, the sign is French. The atmosphere is French. The food is French. And of course, Fabien, the owner and chef, is French.

Fabien Goury’s namesake French brasserie is approaching 25 years at 316 S. Main St. in historic downtown Grapevine. A favorite of locals, Chez Fabien has a reputation for those imagining an escape to France, business people entertaining clients, moms toasting school starts and, of course, celebrating Bastille Day.

“We got a big welcome from the city,” the chef said, sitting at a cozy table, basking in the glow of that pink neon light, while remembering his entry into Grapevine almost a quarter century ago. He smiles, surveying the mid-day crowd at his cozy café. “It’s been an adventure.”

His culinary adventure began in Alsace-Lorraine, a region of eastern France. He grew up in the kitchen learning at home from his first teachers — his mother and grandmother. He attended a vocational high school “de la restauration et de l’htellerie” — catering and hotels. Culinary school came next, and there, Goury learned French cooking and baking, and management skills in hotel operations and housekeeping.

More French cuisine training followed, including helping at a relative’s bakery and cooking through Europe. Both serving and working the front of house, he also helped open a Luxembourg hotel. At this spot, Goury met a lot of Texas tourists who brought some Lone Star attitude to mix with  French ooh-la-la.

“I was young,” he said, a broad smile crossing his face, remembering his Texas acquaintances. “I didn’t see them much in the morning, but they stayed up all night partying. I thought ‘that’s the life, dude,’ and they said ‘come to Texas. The women are beautiful.’”

So, he came to Texas, bringing his French accent, take on French cuisine and love of entertaining. He calls Grapevine, this place of his culinary and business success, his home.

“It’s been an adventure,” he said.

Like any French novel, there’s more to the story. A marriage, child, divorce, the opening team for the French-inspired La Madeleine chain, a German bakery selling an oven.

He kept the oven, took over the location and began his own business.

Goury first opened a bakery and bistro in 2000 on South Main Street, beginning with three salads, three sandwiches and a soup, and the chef and his wife sitting at the restaurant’s sidewalk tables to give the impression of a busy café. By Christmas that year, they had a line out the door. Customers requested breakfast, which meant buying a stove to cook the eggs and bacon. Goury kept following what his customers wanted, and soon, the result was a full-blown, expanded restaurant — Chez Fabien — in the same 316 S. Main location where he also still operates Main Street Bistro & Bakery today.

“That’s the only way to do it,” Goury said. “No one cares what I want, but what’s important is what the guest wants. If you please the guests, they will come back.”

They’ve kept coming back to Chez Fabien for his French-inspired cuisine. Chez Fabien now serves breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and cocktails seven days a week, beginning at 7 a.m. daily and continuing into the evening.

Diners can choose from omelets, quiches, supersized mimosas in the earlier part of the day or tenderloin, steak frites, boeuf bourguignon, salmon meuniere and mussels. The stereotypical French attitude reveals itself when the chef speaks of his food. Insisting on the best ingredients, he says he butchers the meat, trims the fish and hand forms the burgers. With croissants, cakes, crepes and breads, Goury goes through 500 pounds of butter per week. On weekends, the restaurant uncorks some 15 cases of French sparkling wine.

“We put love in the food,” he said.

All can be enjoyed in Chez Fabien’s bubbly atmosphere with a base of dark wood floors, a long bar, red banquettes and mood-setting background music. His wife, Yasmine, half-French and half-Lebanese, cooks up the décor. Together the couple created a brick-and-mortar recipe for a French café where Texans feel comfortable.

“We wanted to make it feel like the home away from home,” Goury said. “I wanted it to feel like a French bistro, and I wanted to find the right balance to make it right, but not too much.”

At Chez Fabien, no bad moods are allowed, he says. “You’ve got to keep a good vibe,” he said, thanking his team.

It’s a good thing, because Goury is one busy Frenchman. Five years ago, he launched his Mediterranean restaurant, Piaf, across the street from Chez Fabien and Main Street Bistro. Ten years ago, he opened a 10,000- square-foot commissary near DFW International Airport to supply food for coffee houses, hotels and airlines.

A chef, he says, must wear many hats, and he laughs easily not about all the cooks in the kitchen, but more about all the places this one chef finds himself.

“A chef has to know how to cook,” he said, explaining his business life. “He’s got to be an entrepreneur to be crazy enough to do it, and you have to be a businessman to keep the money in the bank.”

Goury seems satisfied with his life.

“As long as you don’t cuss at me, I’m happy,” he said. He’d rather be giving out French-style air kisses.

 

Mussels Mariniéres
Serves 1

Ingredients:

• Whipped green butter
• 1 lb butter
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley 
• 1/4 tbsp chopped cilantro 
• 2 medium garlic heads 
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 oz brandy
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream  
• Lemon
• Parsley
• 1 lb PEI mussels 

In a pan, add two tablespoons of green butter. Once the butter is melted, add the mussels. After two minutes, add white wine and heavy cream. Then add salt and pepper. Once all the mussels are open, squeeze the lemon on top and add parsley as garnish. Serve with fries and garlic bread for the real experience.