Bistro St. Tropez to close after 29 years
Lease is up. Chef Patrice Rames is looking for a new restaurant.
Chef Patrice Rames was a young buck of 25 in 1987 when he leased a restaurant space on the third floor of the Marketplace Design Center at 2400 Market St., then a series of galleries serving interior designers. In 1992, he moved it upstairs to the fourth floor.
You had to know about Bistro St. Tropez. Few people walk the block. It had minimal street presence.
It was (and still is) a find - delicious bistro food augmented by some of the sweetest views in the city, overlooking the Schuylkill, 30th Street Station, what was then the Post Office, and if you're sitting at the right table, the Art Museum.
And now, as his lease comes up and the building is reconfigured under new owners, Bistro St. Tropez will end its 29-year run after service on Saturday, Feb. 27.
Armed with a liquor license, Rames says he is looking actively for a new space.
He says he will extend the current restaurant week menus (lunch dinner) through the closing.
Meanwhile, he has his hands more than full.
He's a first-time father at age 55 - as he and his wife, Aria, welcomed twins six weeks ago.