There’s unrecognized history and artistry behind the French cuisine at Bistr09. A history that dates to the reign of King Louis XIV in France. An artistry that graces its tables and walls and moves the elite in Hollywood.
The duck foie gras and Dover sole are special, ouí. The stories from which the menu springs, spectacular.
Founding chef Damien Watel is a descendant of a Frenchman (he was not a cook) whose tragic death in 1671 inspired a motion picture starring Oscar-nominated actors Gérard Depardieu and Uma Thurman. Watel’s wife, Lisa Astorga Watel, is the former private chef of Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones.
Most diners don’t know of the silver screen connections. Few know that Watel painted the contemporary art mounted in the bistro or that his wife cooks for a catering company that provides food on Hollywood sets for actors Matthew McConaughey and Josh Holloway.
What matters to the Watels, though, is that diners recognize an opportunity. From now through June 21, each purchase of a watermelon, tomato and feta salad at the restaurant, located at 6106 Broadway St., Ste. A1, will benefit the San Antonio Food Bank Summer Meals for Kids Program.
Bistr09’s watermelon and tomato salad benefits the San Antonio Food Bank’s San Antonio Restaurant Weeks campaign to raise funds for children in need. Credit: Albert Villasana for the San Antonio Report
The program supports more than 200,000 children without access to free or reduced-price school meals during the summer. Every $1 raised from featured dishes at more than 50 participating restaurants provides seven meals for children and families in need.
“We buy produce from a food bank farm and put it on the menu,” Watel explained. “We bought watermelon and tomatoes and made a salad.”
The food bank has provided summer meals for children since 1980. Watel has worked in the kitchen since 1972. At age 10, he started cooking for friends and family in Lille, a cultural hub north of Paris.
“I became the guy who cooked the Saturday night meal at the house until I was 14,” he said.
His parents were not surprised. Watel descends from a line of relatives in the food industry. The most famous is Francois Vatel, a distant uncle who organized a banquet in 1671 for King Louis XIV. The banquet did not go well for Vatel, a maître d’hôtel. While accounts vary on what went wrong, the end of Vatel’s life is not disputed. He ran himself through on his sword.
More than three centuries later, Hollywood dramatized the story with a 2000 film, “Vatel,” that earned an Academy Award nomination for best art direction. Depardieu played Vatel, Thurman his love interest.
Creative liberties aside (there was no romance between Vatel and the king’s mistress), the film excited Watel.
Paintings by owner Damien Watel add a personal touch to the interior of Bistr09. Credit: Albert Villasana for the San Antonio Report
“It was awesome to look at the research they had done from the story and then to put it on screen and make it interesting enough for people other than me,” he said.
The film was released 16 years after Watel came to the U.S. to work in an uncle’s kitchen in Dallas. In 1993, he moved to San Antonio and launched a series of concepts. Bistr09 is his ninth.
Astorga Watel took a different path to the kitchen. Growing up in Houston, she aspired to a career in fashion. A creative artist, she sketched haute couture designs and plated stunning cuisine. In time, her passion for culinary arts led to culinary school and the start of a catering business.
Along the way, she met Tommy Lee Jones at a polo club in Houston. Later, she cooked for Jones and his wife at their home in Wellington, Florida. An invitation to work as the actor’s private chef followed. What was supposed to be a three-month job turned into a 10-year arrangement.
“I traveled with him everywhere,” Astorga Watel said. “I went to Argentina, got to meet different actors and be on movie sets. I took care of Tommy wherever he would go.”
She accompanied him on sets for “Electric Mist” and “In the Valley of Elah,” a 2007 film that earned Jones an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
In 2004, Jones asked an associate for the two best chefs in San Antonio, which is two hours north of his hometown of San Saba, to cater an event in Wellington. Watel arrived with Mark Bliss, who would later open the upscale restaurant “Bliss.”
“That’s how I met Damien,” Astorga Watel said.
Years passed. The couple began dating in 2008 and married in 2010, a year after Astorga Watel ended her work with Jones to launch a career in San Antonio. Outside Bistr09, she works for Reel Chefs Catering, a company that provides food on sets for Paramount, Warner Brothers, Netflix and Disney.
Husband and wife are a power couple of artistry. She designs and makes some of her own clothes. He paints and crafts handmade art. They create some of the finest French cuisine around.
In 78209, Bistr09 shimmers with history and art. From its perch on Broadway Street, the bistro supports the food bank, plates lovely dishes and offers a little-known taste of Hollywood.