Provo’s Bistro Provenance reopens with same menu, new management
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- Owner Kevin Santiago poses for a photo inside Bistro Provenance in Provo on Saturday, April 8, 2023.
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- Bistro Provenance in Provo is shown on Saturday, April 8, 2023.
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- Aidan Compas sautés vegetables for a ratatouille at Bistro Provenance in Provo on Saturday, April 8, 2023.
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- This undated photo shows French onion soup at Bistro Provenance in Provo.
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- Owner Kevin Santiago poses for a photo inside Bistro Provenance in Provo on Saturday, April 8, 2023.
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- Ben Scribner slices golden beets for a salad at Bistro Provenance in Provo on Saturday, April 8, 2023.
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- This undated photo shows steak frites at Bistro Provenance in Provo.
At the end of January, Kevin Santiago got a call. Chad Pritchard, founder of Bistro Provenance in Provo, was looking to sell the restaurant and wanted to know if Santiago was interested. It was late in the month — “Jan. 20 or so” according to Santiago — and the deal was done by mid-February.
“To have this empty drove me crazy,” Santiago said. He wasn’t alone in the feeling. Bistro Provenance posted on its Facebook page Jan. 10 that the business would be closed and the comment section was filled with questions.
People wanted to know if it was temporary or permanent and, generally, what was happening. On OpenTable, the online reservation service, the establishment was still listed as open. After nearly all 5-star reviews, four 1-star reviews from late January expressed displeasure at the uncertainty.
“They were closed. No sign, no note, no notice. So much for our reservation,” one reviewer wrote Jan. 28. Behind the scenes, a deal was underway for Santiago to take over the bistro.
The new Bistro Provenance will have a soft opening Tuesday for 70 invited guests before Friday’s grand reopening with a packed house of 98 customers.
“We wanted to open really fast, but we also wanted to make sure that we had the foundation, that we had all the kitchen equipment dialed in,” Santiago said.
Amid the short turnaround, the new owners have worked to renovate the interior, tweak the style and prepare to reopen with a nearly unchanged menu. Just this week, while preparing for the opening, the team realized they reserved more tables than they had in the building. So they went out, bought more tables and began the process of coating them to match the rest.
Gone are the traditional white tablecloths the establishment’s regulars may remember, replaced by tables Santiago hopes are more “approachable.”
“We’re in a time in our society where people will go to fine restaurants in sweats and they’ll go in their Lululemons,” Santiago said. “It had a nice feel, but not approachable. So we just tried to warm it up because we feel like people love to be in a kind of a warm, inviting atmosphere.”
The target of the approachable French restaurant came from the Santiagos’ vacation to Paris when eating at Brasserie Lipp. While dining in the 142-year-old restaurant, the couple sat at old wooden tables, elbow-to-elbow with other customers eating a meal that left Santiago searching for any words to describe it. “When you put that kind of detail into what you’re serving, it’s really magical,” he said.
While customers will meet a different aesthetic in the restaurant, the food will be the same as they remember. In addition to keeping the menu steady, the same kitchen staff will be working in view of the diners. A frequent recipient of Santiago’s praise is head chef Edward Puc, a graduate of the International Culinary Center in New York City and chef in the Mountain West for over 30 years.
“Chef Edward, the foods that he makes? Oh my gosh. We had a tasting with all of our servers. I was like, ‘Whoa, this guy can cook,'” Santiago said. A self-described “meat guy,” Santiago couldn’t pick a favorite item on the menu, saying Le Burger de Provenance on the lunch menu “will totally surprise you” and that the french fries are practically addictive.
Ben Scribner, a member of the kitchen staff, pointed out the French onion soup — which takes half a day to make — while Aidan Compas, another member of the kitchen staff working ahead of the reopening, had praise for the whole menu. During the hiatus, the staff looked through the offerings to see if a change should be made.
“We couldn’t decided what to take off; it’s all good,” Compas said.
The menu boasts a host of French culinary classics from ratatouille and steak frites to duck a l’orange. Dinner entrees range in price from $24 to over $50 with cheaper fare available during lunch hours. While walk-ins are available, reservations are encouraged in advance. In fact, Santiago said the restaurant is almost booked full for the first week. Now, he just hopes people walk away with a positive experience.
“I hope that these people first come in, … feel that little bit of a lift (and) they feel the energy of people who absolutely love what they’re doing in the kitchen,” Santiago said. “There’s magic to the food and that’s what I hope everybody feels. And then I hope that we delight them enough that they’ll go tell their friends about it.”
Santiago is a co-founder and owner of The Heirloom Restaurant Group, local restauranteurs who own and operate eight restaurants in Utah Valley and Midway. In addition to Bistro Provenance, the group owns Pizzeria 712, Communal, Station 22, Black Sheep Cafe, CHOM, Five Star BBQ and Heirloom Common & Market.
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