Celebrating A Life Well-Fed at Le Lyonnais in Acton
When my childhood friend, JP Labrosse, reached out to let me know that his parents would be retiring soon after 50 years at the helm of their beloved restaurant, Le Lyonnais in Acton—a remarkable accomplishment anywhere, but especially in Greater Boston—I knew right away that Edible Boston had to share their story. And when we got our hands on Chef Gerard’s special Victory Lap menu and his prized Coq Au Vin recipe, we couldn’t wait to share those with you, too.
Congratulations and best wishes to the Labrosse family as they close this chapter of their lives and move on to a much deserved retirement. Avec toutes nos félicitations! —Sarah Blackburn, publisher
UPDATE, JANUARY 2022: We are so sad to report that Gerard Labrosse passed away on December 1st, 2021. Scroll to the bottom of this story for a loving tribute to Chef Labrosse by his son JP. Our thoughts go out to the Labrosse family; you’ve lost a lion.
Photo: Tim Malieckal
Food lovers who have ventured west of Boston are bound to have found a home in Le Lyonnais, a classic French restaurant set in a 19th-century farmhouse in Acton.
After a full 50 years of curating nearly every meal, Gerard and Joan Labrosse are ready to retire and spend time with family and friends. Their story is one of creativity, passion and persistence, filled with the struggles and triumphs of a life built around a restaurant.
It was always about the love
“When we started, opening a premium experience restaurant ‘out in Acton’ was considered ‘wild’,” says Chef de Cuisine Gerard Labrosse, who arrived in the US from France in 1961. “We put everything we had into buying this property and converting it into a restaurant, while raising our newborn daughter, Joelle.
“For us, it wasn’t about the show. It was about fostering a generous and welcoming spirit around fine food and good conversation.”
Farm-to-table French Food
“Where I grew up, 50 miles west of Lyon, farm-to-table was all there was,” laughs Chef Gerard. “I’ve been in the business since I was 13 years old and have always known where the food came from, in order to use the best ingredients. It wasn’t about marketing; I wanted to take care of my customers.”
Gerard and Joan looked at dozens of properties in the area, but the Acton farmhouse set beside a brook and waterfall felt like the right place to realize their vision. “It created a homey elegance,” says Joan, the restaurant’s creative director. “The minute we saw it, we fell in love.”
A $25,000 Startup
Starting a restaurant in 1971 was quite a different endeavor than it is today.
The Labrosses’ business plan estimated a 31-line budget to build a full-sized commercial kitchen, as well as furnishing, redecorating and structurally updating the 150 year-old farmhouse. The grand total? $24,347. “When I look back, it seems quaint,” says Chef Gerard, “but things were a bit simpler back then.”
Securing a Business Loan Through a Banker’s Belly
In order to properly execute their vision, the couple applied for a loan. “We talked to a local bank, and they were willing to consider a business loan,” Joan recounts. But before making their decision, the bank sent five board members to sample Gerard’s cuisine at a restaurant he worked at in Cambridge, a rather unique display of due diligence.
“I wish the world still worked like that,” Chef Gerard recalls with a smile.
And so it all came together
The couple has delighted hundreds of thousands of customers in the decades since, serving award-winning classical French cuisine from coq au vin to crème caramel, building a devoted clientele who are celebrating an occasion or simply savoring a delicious meal with Chef Gerard’s special flair.
Hands-on leadership
Today, most restaurant owners have the staff handle day-to-day operations. “That is not the way we ever ran Le Lyonnais,” Joan explains. Only twice did Le Lyonnais open without one of them onsite. “We like things the way we like things,” she says. “I have had a direct hand in cooking almost every meal—for half a century,” says Chef Gerard.
Joan remembers one such occasion with a wry smile. “We were hosting a visitor from France, and Gerard wanted to take him down to the Concord River,” she recounts. “Turns out,” she says with an eyebrow raised, “that when canoeing on a river, it is harder to go upstream.” Gerard and his friend found themselves far downstream and two hours late for opening time. Joan saved the day. “I usually leave the cooking to Gerard, but the show must go on!”
The world stops spinning in 2020
“The past year’s lockdown has really been the opposite of our philosophy—since the beginning, we’ve been creating environments where communities can come together, side-by-side with their friends, family or colleagues in a beautiful place, share a meal and leave remembering what it means to be alive,” says Chef Gerard.
“Instead, we all needed to be hiding in our houses,” says Joan. “I like to say I have fled pessimism my whole life,” Chef Gerard jokes. “I always try to look on the bright side and think of what’s new, what’s next and how to thrive when things aren’t what I expected.” So throughout 2020 the couple prepared take-out meals for their customers, and even opened the dining room to receive people—despite capacity restrictions and mask mandates. “It’s such a relief that the world is opening up again!” says Chef Gerard.
‘The Roaring 20s’ are back
“I was born in the ‘40s, so I missed the ‘Roaring 20s’ by a little bit” jokes Joan, but she says she senses we are in for another round, a century later. “Every day feels like a celebration. “When I talk to customers, many of whom didn’t go out to restaurants all year long, they seem like they are waking up to life again.”
Ready for new adventures
Despite enjoying this renaissance at Le Lyonnais, Chef Labrosse and Mrs. Labrosse, ages 82 and 79, realized they were ready to tie a bow on their tenure at 416 Great Road in Acton. “We’ve had an amazing ride, but there are some cute grandkids for us to tend to and new adventures to be had,” Joan explains. As of July 9th, 2021, the property and business are for sale.
Once a quaint country road, Acton’s Route 2A now sees 17,000 potential customers drive by every day. The well-maintained property features a charming main building, with a main dining room whose wall of windows overlooks a beautiful brook, with a detached barn evoking a classic feeling of farm-to-table elegance.
Time for a victory lap
With the property and business officially accepting offers for purchase starting this summer, the couple decided to do something special to cap off their tremendous run.
What better way to celebrate than inviting 50 years of customers to revisit them one last time, so they can enjoy a final meal with them?
“We decided to create a special menu that we are calling ‘The Victory Lap,’ because, why not?” smiles Chef Gerard. The menu is available starting July 9th, and reservations are available by phone at 978.263.9068. Details on the menu can be found below.
“We love the feeling when one of our long-time customers comes through our door, whether we last saw them a week or a decade ago, and it’s like no time has passed,” says Joan. “So we are looking forward to welcoming everyone one more time.”
Some might call it the end of an era, but for Gerard and Joan Labrosse, they see it differently. “What we care about is creating joy and community; we want to celebrate 50 years in business and the generations of people whose lives we have had the privilege of being a part of.”
Not surprising phrasing, perhaps, for lifelong restaurateurs, but they say they think of this time as ‘something to savor.’
‘The Victory Lap’
A special menu at Le Lyonnais Restaurant celebrating the completion of 50 years in business
After half a century in business, we are finally ready to move on to next adventures. Starting in July 2021, we will be receiving offers for the purchase of Le Lyonnais and our property at 416 Great Road in Acton, listed with Keller Williams.
Some may think of this as the end of an era, but for us, we think of this time as something to savor. We want to celebrate the generations of people whose lives we have had the privilege of being a part of and the community created here. To celebrate these past five decades, we’d like to invite you in and cook for you—for perhaps the last time.
The special menu below is available starting July 9th and ends soon. It includes some of our guests’ very favorite dishes.
With love,
Joan and Gerard Labrosse
APPETIZER
(choose one)
Salad Gerard
Fresh poached pears, a bed of organic greens, raspberry vinaigrette
Pâté de Campagne Maison
Gerard’s house-made Pâté
Escargots de Bourgogne
Served in-shell with garlic butter
MAIN COURSE
(Choose one; all main courses complimented with sides / vegetables)
Atlantic Poached Salmon Fines Herbes
Poached in a court bouillon
Beef Bourguignon en Chemise
Slow-cooked beef braised in red wine with vegetable mirepoix wrapped in a crépe
Roast Duck à l’Orange Grand Marnier
Half semi-boned duckling with an orange glaze
DESSERT
(Choose one)
Mousse au Chocolat
The French classic
Crème Caramel
Classic dessert with house-made caramel
Gerard Labrosse 12/18/1938 — 12/1/2021
My dad died peacefully on December 1, 2021, with me and my sister and mom holding his hand for his last heartbeat.
His death was caused by lung failure (non Covid related) due to a rapidly progressing condition.
This was quite sudden—a little over two months prior he was working 10-hour days at his restaurant, Le Lyonnais. Since then, up through the day he died, he was in the hospital with a capable and caring team doing everything possible.
Though it feels so tragic to see his life end so suddenly, he had the opportunity to share special moments with family and friends with so many visits, thoughts and phone calls during his last two months. In his final two weeks, my family and I were with him at the hospital watching over him and keeping company, taking turns for 12 hours per day, from when the hospital opened to visitors in the morning to closing time at night.
I think he felt and cherished the appreciation and love of family, friends and community he cultivated over his nearly 83 years of life up through his last moments.
This time has been a really difficult one for me and my family but also a time to celebrate my dad’s life and reflect on all the ways he influenced me and my gratitude for that. My dad was a devoted parent and husband, a friend to hundreds, a chef and restaurant frontman, an enthusiast, an optimist, an entrepreneur, a community curator and a free-thinker... He had a mischievous wit, a relentless work ethic and a signature French accent. He always prioritized living fully and his spark and “joie de vivre” persisted all the way through his life.
My dad had the soul of a lion and a warrior. I remember 20 years ago thinking that, though I might encourage him to consider otherwise, he was going to be at his stove at the restaurant until he got carried away in an ambulance. That’s essentially what happened. His last night working—October 2nd, 2021—with blood oxygen saturation levels so low that he couldn’t stand anymore, he sat on a tall chair by the stove and directed his staff cooking those final dinners for people. When I saw him in the hospital shortly after he said proudly:
“You know, on our last day, it was a very busy night—a lot of customers. We had a good run all the way to the end.”
Last summer as he was getting ready to retire after 50 years of my parents running their restaurant in Massachusetts, this magazine (EB) asked me to interview my parents and write a piece about their business before they retired. It’s bittersweet to read it now but I also feel so glad that we could celebrate his “victory lap” while he was still with us last summer before his illness.
My parents had served hundreds of thousands of customers in 50 years, and after the piece was published people came from far and wide to enjoy a last meal at Le Lyonnais. To put into perspective the change and life-journeys they witnessed during their many years in business, a 16-year-old dishwasher who worked on their first night they opened is now a 66-year-old retiree.
My dad was a person who never liked the notion of slowing down or relying on doctors. I got a note this week from one of my Italian cousins reflecting on his life: She said that when they came to visit a decade ago, he was saying he didn’t want to go get some routine blood tests done at the doctor. She described his reaction:
“He said, ‘All my friends who go get the blood tests are dead.’ Then he took us near his car, opened the trunk and showed us his bicycle and said, ‘See that? That's my doctor!’”
There was really no reasoning with him about any of these things. Though he never said it quite like this, it always seemed to me that his life motto was “Live fully, savor every moment .. and when it’s your time, die quickly and peacefully.”
That’s what ended up happening. And though it’s crushingly sad, there is also beauty and purity in the clarity with which he lived his life. And for what it’s worth, by all indications, more physicals and proactive blood tests would not have made a difference with the lung condition he died from.
For the past few decades, the back entrance to his kitchen always had a small sign bolted to the door that said “Entrée des Artistes.” In his approach as a chef and in everyday life, he had an artist’s spirit, and music in particular played a huge role in his life. One of the things he loved most about his restaurant is that it was far enough away from residential neighbors he could blast his music until all hours of the morning. When I would go visit over the past few decades, I would stay in my parents’ apartment above their restaurant, and before bedm around 1:00 am, I’d go down to the restaurant’s kitchen where my dad would be finishing some prep for the next day, listening to music from some of his favorite musicians like Tino Rossi, Julio Iglesias or Tito Puente, singing along with full vigor.
He was wildly passionate about music and dance as long as I can remember. In the Boston suburbs where many other dads were teaching their kids about baseball or football, my dad was lending me cassettes of flamenco music and mimicking latin dance moves around the house before breakfast.
In his last weeks, I played him music in his hospital room and in particular one of his favorite music groups, the Gipsy Kings. Most frequently I played the track Duende which he loved and somehow seemed right. Before I played it for him one last time, I looked up the meaning of the song and what I found was:
“Duende” is a term often associated with Flamenco music. It is a euphoric state that comes from inside as a physical/emotional response to art. It is what gives you chills, or makes you smile or cry as an embodied response to an artistic performance that is particularly expressive. The word has come to mean sharing in the cumulative joy and pain that a performer has felt in his lifetime that he brings to his music.”
For me, this meaning makes it an even more stunningly beautiful “last dance.”
As I listened to the track Duende in the days that followed his death … it feels like it’s all in there: the pain, the victory, the joy, the art, the sadness, the glory, the brilliant stubbornness, the relentless work and the bravado attitude of “le chef” and “le champion.”
In one of his final moments of consciousness I told my dad that for everything that he prioritized in his life—his family, his freedom, charting his own path, living fully, being an artist, his restaurant and the community that surrounded it—that he could fully and resoundingly declare victory.
I have come to realize that so many of my core traits have lineage back to my dad... my positivity, my optimism, my entrepreneurial spirit, my penchant for disregarding convention, my playfulness, my love of music and dance, my sense of adventure, my joyfulness and my deep sense and appreciation of the full spectrum of emotion.
On his last night he looked so utterly tired, spent and fading, ventilator tubes blocking his voice as they had been for the previous two weeks. I looked him in the eyes and told him that I would carry forth his spirit in the world with full gusto. He nodded ever so subtly and gently raised his eyebrows knowingly.
I will miss him so much.
Rest in peace Pops ❤️
–JP Labrosse
