September 19, 2017 – Santa Cruz County’s top-rated French restaurant Au Midi is leaving Aptos at the end of October to re-open in a new, larger space on Tyler St. in Old Town Monterey.
“We have to move to be able to do what we want to do,” says chef Muriel Loubiere, who owns Au Midi with her husband Michel. “There are just not enough potential customers in Aptos to run a business.”
The new Au Midi at 476 Tyler St. will seat 66 people in the dining room and includes a full bar, lounge area and outdoor seating in an interior patio. “We’ve been thinking about making the move for three or four years and were just waiting to find the right place,” says Muriel, adding that their current location in a strip mall along Soquel Drive was “not easy,” although they’ve been there for ten years.
The Monterey restaurant—which they hope to open in December or January—will serve lunch and dinner. It will feature Au Midi’s signature “bistro-chic” cuisine inspired by California ingredients prepared using French techniques. But she says the lunch menu will be more international, with Japanese and Cuban dishes along with French favorites like croque monsieur and salad Niçoise.
“I’m very happy, but at the same time it’s sad because most of our customers are regulars,” says Muriel. “But it’s not so far away and we hope many of our friends will visit us in Monterey.”
Au Midi plans a few special events in the upcoming month and farewell dinners in Aptos before moving to the other side of the bay.
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At Edible Monterey Bay, our mission is to celebrate the local food culture of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties, season by season. We believe in sustainability, and we believe everyone has a right to healthful, clean and affordable food. We think knowing where our food comes from is powerful, and we hope our magazine, website and newsletters inspire readers to get to know and support our local growers, fishers, chefs, vintners and food artisans.
