Alexis Kotsis was a visionary, hardworking, and stubborn.
“Mais il est fou!” (“He’s crazy!”) Christoforos Hatzopoulos had said about Alexis Kotsis and his decision to open an elegant French restaurant in the upscale district of Kolonaki in the mid-1960s. The late Hatzopoulos, a bon vivant who was educated in France, had the best foreign press agency in Greece and had served as president of the Hellenic-French Chamber of Commerce, knew French cuisine better than anyone. He also knew that the average Athenian didn’t understand snails, frogs legs, filet mignon, and aged wines. But Kotsis, who died on Monday, was a man of courage, hard work and faith in himself. So what if most Greeks didn’t eat steak tartare? He would teach them.
With ancestry tracing to the Greek-speaking diaspora of Albania, he found himself in France by chance, because an uncle of his had fallen in love with a French woman. He grew up in France, learned the language and, most importantly, learned the job. Returning to Greece, he spent some years cooking for employees at Pechiney, a French aluminum company in Aspra Spitia.
L’Abreuvoir has been serving French cuisine in the upscale district of Kolonaki since the mid-1960s. Christina Georgiadou/Gastronomos
On March 18, 1965, a new restaurant, L’Abreuvoir, opened its doors in Kolonaki, at a time when even cars were scarce in the streets. Its name came from a painting that depicted a horse with a watering trough. The horse also became the trademark of the restaurant. Together with his dynamic wife, Gianna, Kotsis created a personable environment that functioned as a school of good taste, good service, good wine, good manners and that special atmosphere that accompanies food. It was a sotto voce celebration in which all the tables participated and immediately imposed a kind of equality among the diners. Unlike the popular tavernas and cheap eateries where a patron would steal the show with their voices and manners, L’Abreuvoir “served” bourgeois politeness even to those who did not have it.
At the same time, in its 60-plus years of existence, it became a hotbed of good chefs, as some who worked there later opened their own restaurants, such as Spyros & Vasilis. The recipe for its success was that it did not change the recipes, but also something more important: The couple’s two children, Spyros and Claire, grew up in the restaurant, spent all their childhood summers in France, studied abroad, and when they returned, they helped support the gastronomic tradition of the first generation of the family. Both devoted to the restaurant and each other, they gave their all to keep L’Abreuvoir going, but also to constantly upgrade it.
Kotsis’ children, Claire and Spyros, who grew up working in L’Abreuvoir and continue the family tradition. Christina Georgiadou/Gastronomos
The life cycle of a venue in the Athenian food service sector is limited. They endured the Greek debt crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and much more, with a stable quality that you couldn’t find elsewhere.
Their father, Alexis, vigorous until old age, would go to the Rendi food market at four in the morning to find the best supplies. Kotsis – a model of a self-made man – who was buried on Wednesday, had another great love – the sea. He was an avid sailor who had taken part in races in the 1960s and his last boat was the Mon Flirt.
Alexis Kotsis with one of his closest friends, doctor Nikolaos Pournaras.
Let’s drink a nice Burgundy wine to wish him well on this long journey, and thank him for all the wonderful meals he has given us for generations. There is no sight more moving than seeing the first generation of customers, now grandparents, accompanied by their grandchildren, at the tables of L’Abreuvoir, eating duck and foie gras.
Dining and Cooking