The Michelin recognized, Family-owned Les Petites Canailles in Paso Robles “is a French farm-to-table Bistro specializing in local Central Coast California ingredients. The food is sophisticated and modern served within a lively, casual atmosphere.”
The proprietors (Husband and Wife Team of Julien and Courtney Asseo) like to refer to themselves as the Winemaker’s son & the Butcher’s daughter…
“Chef Julian Asseo was born in Libourne, a small town in the southwest of France. He grew up in the vineyard of his parents until he was 10 years old before moving to Paso Robles, with his family. His father became one of the greatest pioneers of winemaking in the area, with his winery L’Aventure. At 16 he decided to move back to France to follow his culinary school education at the Lycee Hotelier de Gascogne near Bordeaux. After finishing culinary school he moved to Paris to work at La Fontaine de Mars as a commis, then chef de partie.”
“Courtney Asseo was born and raised in the foothills of North Carolina. Her family owns Mays Meat Processing in Taylorsville, NC. It’s one of the last, family- owned slaughterhouses and butcher shops in the southeast. In her younger days, she wanted to be an actress. She studied film acting at the New York Film Academy in NYC, and later graduated from UNLV in Theatre Studies. Being in that industry wasn’t easy, and she worked many restaurant and bar jobs. She may not have chosen the hospitality industry in the beginning, but it ended up choosing her, and she wouldn’t have it any other way”
“After a couple years of working in Paris, Julien decided to move back to California where he was a pastry chef at a restaurant in L.A. This restaurant did not stay open long enough to name it in this biography, but it is where he met the love of his life, a charming Southern girl from North Carolina, named Courtney. She worked as a server at the restaurant with Julien for several months until it closed. He charmed her with his big blue eyes, accent, and many samples of gelato. After it closed, Julien got an offer to work for Rick Moonen in Las Vegas.”
“Julien and Courtney moved to Vegas in 2008 and the rest was history. They both excelled in the hospitality and culinary world. Julien worked for Joel Robuchon for 4 years as a sous chef, until he made his way to Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesar’s Palace. Courtney worked behind the bar at Todd English and later took over as bar manager of DB Brasserie, by Daniel Boulud. While Julien made his way up to Executive Chef of Guy Savoy, Courtney made 2 babies and a home for them in Las Vegas.”
“Courtney and Julien always loved hosting people at their prior house in Las Vegas for whole pig BBQs or paella. Entertaining and hospitality is part of their souls. While they often visited Paso Robles to spend time with Julien’s family, they always dreamed of someday leaving Vegas and opening their own restaurant in Paso Robles. For years people didn’t question whether or not they would ever do it, but it was a matter of when.”
“Paso Robles is now their home with Les Petites Canailles. Les Petites Canailles translates to English as “the little rascals,” which represents their 3 children, Margaux, Maddox, and Phoenix.”
Chef Julien Asseo takes a break from his busy kitchen to join us.
This is Anne-Marie Panerinkin, Culture OC's food columnist. You can follow me online at CultureOC.org. When I want the best in food and dining news outside of Orange County, of course, I tune into the SoCal Restaurant Show on AM830KLAA. And welcome back. It is the pre-4th of July holiday version of the SoCal Restaurant Show, and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 a.m. until 12 noon right here on AM830KLAA, the home of Angels Baseball 2024. And you can also catch us on the Angels Radio app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show. Happy to be here. And also happy that Tony is with us this morning in technical excellence. Good morning, Tony. And we're enthusiastically presented by Melissa's World Variety Proters and West Coast Prime Meats. There is a restaurant in Paso Robles by the name of Le Petit Canailas, who I have been trying to get into for a number of years. The backstory is, is when I was last in Paso before my trip a few months ago, right before the pandemic. The one night I had to get to Le Petit Canailas that they were open, they had a private party. And boy, was that a frustrating experience because if you talk to any foodies in the know about the restaurants in Paso Robles, and they're getting better and better all the time and they're more of them. But if you're serious about food and wine, this is the place to go. So leave it to the Fabre brothers, who we've talked about on the show previously, who own two different wineries up in the Paso area. When I was up there earlier in the year with the group from LA wine writers, they were gracious enough to host us to a wonderful meal at Le Petit Canailas, and the food just kept coming. I mean, it was wonderful. And paired with both, you know, wines from both of their wineries, pretty spectacular. I was able to persuade the owner's chef, that being Julian Seo to come on the show and talk about it, he's a little bit of a reserved guy. But boy, his cooking speaks for itself and what a family story. And Julian with that is background, it is a pleasure to welcome you to the SoCal restaurant show. Good morning. Good morning. How are you? Julian, I am doing well. I would be a lot better if I had one of those little Petit cheese ball affairs that you do is an amuse in front of me because those are quite delicious. But I'm sure that could be arranged for my next visit to Paso. What do you think? That's what I was going to say, you know, it's an a reason for you to come back to the restaurant. Oh, Julian, believe me, the reason to come back to your restaurant is the wonderful experience I had there a couple of months ago. And you know, your wonderful food. And I mean, we will share this with our audience, Julian. But you come from a very serious culinary background, born in France, found your way to the United States, went back to France for culinary and hotel school, and then came back and boy, you can't say this, Julian, but I can. Paso Robles is definitely the better for having you in Courtney there as residents. And actually that kind of brings me to starting the story here, Julian, because as I like to say, there is kind of a French connection that is in Paso. Your brother-in-law likes to call it the French mafia. It's only in the best uses of those words, but you come from a very prominent winemaking family. You still have family that has wineries in France. I believe your father's winery before he came to the United States was in Bordeaux. So you know, that's some pretty serious credential. What initially, Julian, when you were at a fairly young age, motivated your father to leave France and find his way to Paso Robles of all places? Well, first of all, thank you for the kind words. And yeah, I think really the trigger for my dad was that, you know, he's a very kind of wild soul. And I think he felt a little restricted when he came to winemaking in France, sure as you know, France is quite strict when it comes to winemaking and the AOC appellations. You know, you know, you're being in Bordeaux, but you're pretty much stuck to using Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Falle, Merlot and Pautivado, you know. So he, I think he wanted to be able to express himself a little bit more and really make wine that he wanted to make without too many restrictions. And so after traveling, you know, some of the winemaking areas around the world, he ended up in Paso and fell in love, you know, at a very early stage of what Pautivado was compared to what it is now, you know, still a very, very touch wine region. And so I think that's really, that was the main motivation for him to move. I understand, Julian, and you know, you're being very humble and modest here, but you know, your father and love and tour, you know, this is a pioneering winery in Paso Robles, who is, you know, continued to do well over the years and grow. And you went into the culinary arts, but you know, your sister now has a key role there. So, you know, definitely fun because Julian, obviously, as you know, is a chef of your level, you know, food and wine go together. So whatever you can do to nurture that, it's a good thing. It really is, you know, and I was actually talking to a guest in this one of mine last night about, I think, the reason why I kind of got into the restaurant business is, you know, growing up in obviously a wine family, wine was a big part in part of my life. And then, you know, finding the love for food became, you know, made more and more sense over the years. And so, you know, I think the restaurant is the best of both worlds because we get to cook and serve amazing food while serving amazing wine and making people happy. So I think that's what connected with me. Sure, and Julian, we should mention that you are Michelin recognized and also your wine list has earned the Wine Spectator Award. And what must be hard for you is, is, you know, yes, you have a great list, but also you need to represent all of these wineries that are connected with your family, which I believe are three that are passo-oriented, but I do believe your uncle still has a winery in France. Is that right about that? Yeah, absolutely. So near something, actually in something medium, you know, he's in the something medium at addiction. And so, you know, luckily, the wines that my family are making are good, you know, because even if they're my family, the wines weren't good, they wouldn't be on the list. No, no, you know, Julian, you are a serious chef and your name is on the restaurant and believe me, I understand, but you know, as I say, fortunately, it is all good. What motivated you, Julian, to decide to go back to France for culinary school? Because you know, most people that would have been in the United States by now, particularly you came at a fairly young age, if you wanted to go to culinary school, you probably would have gone to one of the prestigious U.S. culinary schools. Yeah, I think, you know, I was I was quite the rebellious team. And so growing up in Boston, especially at the time, you know, it was still very sleepy town. Oh, yeah. And a little on the wild side, Julian, cowboy town. Yeah. So, you know, I think it was kind of that that's what initiated it all at the beginning was I saw a way to escape and start my early adult life, you know, because I was 16. And, but also because I had already at a young age, I think felt a lot for food. You know, I always loved to eat since I was a young kid. And as I got a little older, I would spend a lot of time with my mom in the kitchen. She still is a great home cook. And so I think all this triggered me wanting to, yeah, to move. And I mean, you know, obviously culinary school in France is a vocational high school. So I felt like I was gonna not waste any time and start doing what I wanted to do as part of my high school curriculum. And so, you know, obviously friends being kind of one of the, you know, motherland for gastronomical school, it just made a lot of sense to me. And, you know, Julian, I think he would be the first to admit in terms of the culinary training that you get in France versus the culinary training that you get in the United States. But it is much broader and more in depth. I believe part of the curriculum in France is, you know, you need to know how to dress in butcher and animal. And that is not necessarily done in the United States. You know, in fact, a lot of young chefs that come out of culinary school, you know, this is something they have to learn on the job. Am I right about that? Yeah, so, I mean, I think more and more, you know, the culinary school program in the U.S. is getting better. But I can tell you for a fact that, yeah, my culinary training in France was very broad. And I think it's important to mention that, you know, we call it culinary school, but it's more of a hospitality school, meaning that we also learn the art of the hospitality world, you know, meaning the dining room, you know, we had dining room classes, I mean, you know, serving classes, hotel management, you know, so it was a very broad hospitality training. And so I think that was very important because, you know, part of running a restaurant involves a lot more than just being a good chef. So I think it's a good training, it's free, you know, which is something to that. I think is important in that it can be difficult in the U.S., you know, I think with the cost of... Oh, unbelievable. And then you come out and you're earning minimum wage and then you have that loan that you have to repay. So, you know, definitely appreciate the French for that. Julian, we're going to take a short pause here and pick up the conversation on the other side. We are up in Paso Robles and we're talking with owner chef Julian Asao, the high-end restaurant that he is involved in and very popular up in the Paso area, is Lee Petite Canailas. You are listening to the SoCal restaurant show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats. We'll be back in a flash.
