Traditionally French restaurants in the United States are at the high end: butter and wine sauces over delicate entrees, salad served after the entree and buttery pastries. Enter Phillipe Fabri, who met Gary Roy online and expressed his interest in opening a restaurant in the United States. Fabri had worked at Le Poisson Lune, a fine-dining fish restaurant in Bordeaux, France, and at Pizza Top in Toulouse, France.
Roy has been in the restaurant business for the last 18 years in the Evansville area, including working in catering at The Centre and managing The Jungle and Black Buggy. But instead of high-end French fare, Fabri was more interested in offering a sandwich shop.
So he took several vacations to Evansville to consider the options and look for a location. He finally settled on the site of a former Philippine market which before that a TCBY ice cream/yogurt shop in Bell Crossing on Bell Road, behind Bell Oaks Shopping Center in Newburgh, Ind.
Fabri is on a six-month visa while he establishes the business with Roy as manager. He will get six-month extensions while the business is established and he can qualify for a longer visa. While you won't find the delicate entrees with butter and wine sauces at@ Ze Bistro to build on the strength of its soups.