We had heard whispers that flamboyant French chef Pierre Levicky was planning a second restaurant to partner his existing Chez Pierre joint and this report in today’s Herald confirms it. His new Chez Jules restaurant opened on Hanover Street in Edinburgh yesterday.
Before they crashed, Levicky’s Pierre Victoire chain of restaurants was famous and possibly infamous throughout the Nineties for their cheap and cheerful approach to catering. Somewhere between High Street chain restaurants and semi-autonomous bistros, they offered lunch for a fiver and were, for many people, me included, an affordable introduction to restaurants. Originally, his Chez Jules restaurants were an even cheaper spin off from the Pierre Victoire chain.
Levicky’s rollercoaster career is a belting story and I’ve scribbled about it in The Scotsman here if you want the skinny.