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.”
“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 former residence 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 another break from his busy kitchen to continue with us.
Hi, I'm Al Mancin, the creator of the Neon Feast Act, which offers honest recommendations for all levels of Great Las Vegas dining, both on and off the street. It's unvarnished insights from local chefs, restaurateurs, and food journalists. And when I want the best food intel for Southern California, I listen to the SoCal Restaurant Show on AM830 ALAA Radio. And welcome back. It is the pre-fourth of July 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 AM830, K-L-A-A, the home of Angels Baseball 2024, and you can also catch us on the AM830 Angels Radio app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show, and we're proudly presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats. A great destination for the Fourth of July holiday is doing some wine tasting and dining up in the Paso Robles area, boy, we got a great idea for you. And we're picking up the conversation with Chef Julian Aceo, and his acclaimed restaurant in Paso Robles is Le Petite Canailas. Chef, thanks for hanging in there. I know this is also family morning for you, and you have three little ones, so we definitely appreciate the time, and Julian, this would probably be a good time, because we all have kind of trouble with some of these French words. What does Le Petite Canailas mean? Well, it means the little rascal, and so the name was inspired by, like you mentioned, my three young children, and I think also a little bit of myself, because I consider myself still maybe a big rascal now, but I think it was, yeah, that was the spirit behind the name, and I think it ties in with what we're doing at the restaurant, you know, it's playful with fun, so yeah, that's what the name means. Now, Julian, serious food, fun atmosphere, I think that's a good way of putting it all together. Yeah, Julian, what I would recommend to our listeners that are really serious about food and wine, is I think the best way to experience your restaurant is the trust us option. Run us through that, if you will, because I definitely want to tempt our listening audience. Yes, so trust us is our pacing menu, and it's a menu that changes every two weeks, you know, like the ongoing evolving tasting menu that really changes with what's really available, you know, at that time, it allows us to really showcase the bounty of the Central Coast of California, and what's great, what's in season, what's fresh, and so it's a really fun creative menu, and we called it trust us, because, you know, it's kind of a take on a normal cafe style menu, so we don't really tell you what you're getting until the place comes in front of you, and so it's been a lot of fun, you know, I think our guests really enjoy it. It allows us to stay very creative because of the nature of the menu and how it changes, and then Alex, my Wine Director, you know, really does a fantastic job at creating a wine pairing for each menu, and so it's really a neat experience. How many wines would a guest typically get for the wine pairing that goes with trust us, Julian? Well, it's a wine for course, and including the Amuse Bouche, which is pretty much kind of the little starting vibe, that would be fixed wines. And that, again, these are all premium wines, and the pairing itself is only an extra $80, and given what peso wines are costing these days, in addition to wines in general, that's a very fair price. I agree. Yeah, I think all around, you know, the menu and the wine pairing are definitely, you know, I think, a great value for what you get. The wines, again, you know, I think it's a, how did you give in menu? You get an array of international wine, as well as peso wines, so it's really, it's very complimentary to the food source, so it's really a unique experience when you do the full menu and pairing together. No, Julian highly recommend it, and we did mention what the price of the wine pairing is, but for the menu itself, are you still at $98 per person? Yeah, we are, so we haven't actually raised our price for the past two and a half years, and we will increase, by a small $10 increment for our new menu release, which will be in the late summer, again, just because of, you know, all the everything going up, you know, we have to, but I still think, you know, for the price, it's one of the best value income. You know, Julian, that the value is there, and, you know, I can certainly speak of the quality, so all good as far as that's concerned. Julian the night I was there, excuse me, and the Thabre brothers were hosting, the food just kept coming, and I didn't quite always get the names of all the dishes. That was the oval flatbread that had the lardons on it. Is that, in terms of what you have on the current menu, do you call that a tart, or was that something different? Yeah, it's actually, it's an oxidation flatbread, also known as tart flambé, or flamin cusch, in the Alsace, as they call it, and it's a really thin dough, kind of, yeah, flatbread tart with a layer of kind of yogurt, because it's so much brown, and then some beautiful Gruyere cheese, some lardons, some thinly sliced onions, and fresh thyme, it's fantastic. Julian, outrageous, and I would definitely recommend that to our listeners that might find their way to your restaurant. Again, it just kind of gives folks the idea of all that you're capable of doing. Now, you also had a risotto dish that really knocked me out that, I believe, was a snail risotto dish. Can you tell me about that one, because, again, big surprise, but, you know, an escargot risotto, definitely unexpected. Yeah, I mean, that's something I think a lot of people fell in love with, it was a dish that was originally created as a special, and became an instant hit, and kind of made it with one of the signature dishes of the restaurant. You know, it all started with, we were thinking on how to revisit, you know, the traditional escargot that you can find in many French restaurants in the shell with a parsley, garlic butter, and so we were looking at ways to kind of revisit that dish, and the idea of a risotto came up, and it became an instant hit, so yeah, it's a risotto with all the components that you would find in a traditional escargot dish in the shell. And so it's, you have the garlic component, you have the parsley, which is in a more of a puree form. And I think it's also a much more approachable dish to be introduced to its cargo, because it can be a little, you know, overwhelming for some people, but once you take your first bite, I think it will, it will sell you. Julian, no doubt, definitely a standout dish. Now, we don't want to neglect dessert. It's hard if you saw chocolate mousse on a menu. It's kind of hard to get excited about that, but your chocolate mousse with Valrona chocolate is worth getting excited about. Give us a tease on that, if you will, Chef, because you know, you need to have a great chocolate dessert to conclude a wonderful meal. Yeah, so all the desserts on the menu are, you know, more on the classical side. I'm not, definitely not a pastry chef, so, you know, my desserts are classic, but delicious. And the mousse is, I think it's a perfect example of that. We obviously use some of the best chocolate, you know, we can find. So, in that case, it's a 64% dark chocolate from Venezuela, from Valrona. And the mousse is made in a way that is not too sweet, which I think for me, it can be the problem most of the time is, talking mousse usually will be very sweet. And ours is really, you know, focused on showcasing the chocolate. And then we kind of make it a little lighter with a very aerated whipped cream and some little crunchy chocolate pearls on top. Julian, again, a great finish. You know, your creme brulee is worth getting excited over, too. But again, for all those chocoholics out there, that's one not to miss. Julian, before we need to say goodbye, we need to know exactly where you are in Passerobles, what the best website is and what nights are open. Yes. So we're located right in downtown Passerobles at 1215 Spring Street, so right between 12 and 13th Street, right on Spring, so right around the park. We are open Thursday through Monday, dinner only, and our website is @lippity-canay-wrestle.com I believe, and you double checked that because LPC restaurant.com, sorry about that. That's okay, Julian. I will also have that in the notes that will go with the archive podcast. So, you know, we will be in good shape. Ladies and gentlemen, when you are in the Passerobles area, you definitely want to find your way to lay petite canailas. This is chef Julian Asao, very serious chef, as you just have heard. Quite a stint in Las Vegas before he went back to Passerobles, worked with two of the most prominent French chefs in Las Vegas. And also before that, the first chef that he worked with was seafood expert Rick Moonan. So this chef really knows what he's talking about. You are listening to the SoCal restaurant show. When we return, we're off to the water table at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach. It is the SoCal restaurant show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Proteus and West Coast Prime Meats. Don't wander far.
