Welcome Café Zouave to 759 Grand Street! Owner, Jeremie Carrier, is bringing his vision of a French Bistro to Williamsburg with this new restaurant. Café Zouave aims to be a neighborhood restaurant open to all: a place where you can enjoy a French pastry and coffee in the mornings, and a steak dinner later in the day. Alongside Jeremie are his partners George and Sammy. The three met while working at a French brasserie over 20 years ago. They dreamed of partnering up one day to open up a restaurant together; two decades later their dream has finally come true.
Jeremie has been involved in restaurants his entire life. His family back in Evian, France has run restaurants and hotels for several generations. This shows in the way the bistro is decorated: the walls are adorned with ornaments from his homeland and family. Above the foosball table in the lounge area are 60 year old lights taken from his grandmother’s hotel. Alongside the walls are paintings his father painted, artwork from all over France, and even his father’s old smoking pipes hang in the back.
Running a restaurant “doesn’t feel like work” to Jeremie. He says that he “loves the freedom of running a restaurant” and “loves to speak to customers and see their critique of my dishes in real time”. It’s in these interactions Jeremie has found his passion; sharing food with people and enjoying conversation brings him joy. That’s been the case so far with Café Zouave, with Jeremie claiming the neighborhood has been very welcoming and community oriented. Stop by Café Zouave to check out their newly renovated space and try Grand Street's very own slice of France!
Sammy, George, and Jeremie