La Mère Michelle is back in business on Big Basin Way.
An institution in Saratoga for 48 years, this French restaurant had been shuttered for the first six months of the coronavirus crisis — but always planned to reopen.
According to chef and co-owner Marc Masek, guests are being welcomed back with socially distanced tables for dinner Thursday through Sunday and brunch on the weekends.
The popular Rack of Lamb, with mint-honey demiglace, is back on the menu, along with Magret de Canard Montmorency, Chicken Forestiere, Wienerschnitzel and other entrees and appetizers. Brunch options include entrees, crepes, omelettes and salads.
The restaurant’s been a family enterprise since its inception. Father Joseph Masek was born into a family of innkeepers and chefs in Prague and became a kitchen apprentice at the age of 11. After immigrating to Canada, he met Michelle, who became his wife and the restaurant’s namesake. They moved to Saratoga and opened the restaurant in 1972. The patriarch died in 2013.
“La Mère” had been greeting guests before the pandemic, but Marc Masek says his mother’s visits to the restaurant will be limited for the time being.
Details: Dinner service runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Brunch hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. 14467 Big Basin Way, Saratoga; www.lameremichelle.com
