MEET VIENNA
BAZIN'S ON CHURCH & BAZIN'S NEXT DOOR
RESTAURATEURS:
The centerpiece of Historic Church Street in Vienna is a restaurant called Bazin's on Church. If you're a resident of Vienna, then Bazin's probably needs no introduction. The people of Vienna have embraced Bazin's as much as the owner, Patrick Bazin (the restaurant's namesake), has embraced the people of Vienna. And that embrace is apparent as soon as you encounter him and his wife Julie. He's a chef, THE Chef of Bazin's, but more than that, Patrick and Julie are people who believe in tradition and family. These values are a part of them, and it's how they run the business, manage their employees, treat their guests, and how they interact with the community. And its how Patrick cooks his food. At the end of the day (and maybe in the middle of the day too), he wants to see you with an empty plate, after you've finished something he's prepared, with a smile on your face.
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Let's meet Patrick Bazin.
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People know you in town, you’ve been here since March of 2006 when this building was built – the inception of the rebirth of Historic Church Street – what brought you here?
I always thought when I was running The Occidental in DC, I was there for 10 years as a managing partner – it was great, and a great relationship with the owners. But I was also always had a desire to have my own place. It took me about 2 years prior to this spot, and we looked from Rehoboth to Leesburg and everything in between. We had some things were really good deals, and some things that fell apart at the last second. We really wanted to find a spot that we could raise our family around, and could be there for 15, 20, 40 years. We always had a long term perspective for our business. A lot of restaurants make their money in the first 5 – 8 years, and if you don’t make it after that then oh well. So we really strived to be here for the long haul. That’s how we’ve always worked everything. We didn’t want to think short term. And we wanted to be part of the community and everything that Vienna and the surrounding area was about.
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So, here’s how I found this place: we had this deal in Arlington and at the last second it blew up because they decided to go with a chain. And Julie and I got discouraged because these places want a guaranteed business – and we’re not a guarantee. We’re an idea. We work really hard, but we’re still an idea. So we went to a place that was in McGruders parking lot that was up for sale, and Julie and I pulled in, and I didn’t even get out of the car. And I said “look Julie, I’m not pulling in to McGruders parking lot for the next 25 years, its just not gonna happen”. Then we went down Church Street so she could see what my vision was so she could understand a little bit better what I was going for... I want to be on a side street, because that’s where the better restaurants are – they’re off the beaten track, not on the main track. So I said “Let’s go down this street”, kind of knowing at the time that they have a big festival here. And of course, now I know everything about Viva Vienna and other festivals. But I was thinking I wanted to be here on this street because I wanted to be a part of the community. And fortunately for us we took a right hand turn on Church Street off of Lawyers Road. There was dirt patch (where this building now sits), with a sign up, and the sign had only been up for 3 days. So we called right then and there, and we didn’t go to that last meeting. And we were kind of aggressive because of our experience with the place in Arlington – we said “if you’re looking for a chain, don’t waste our time, we’re not going to waste your time – no big deal”. But the guy was gracious enough and he liked our passion, and he was willing to do it. It was a very quick process because the next day he invited to his office, and fortunately for me I had been talking about business plans at 4 or 5 different venues already – so my mind was ready to address all the types of questions that he had prepared for us. We answered all of the questions.
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The one thing I really liked about him was that he did his due diligence. And the next day he showed up to The Occidental with 10 people without telling me ahead of time – just to see what we were all about. So without even skipping a beat, I set him and his guests up in a private room, and I think made an 8 - 10 course meal for him, and one of my best waiters was there to wait on him. And then from that meeting he said “I’m not looking any further – you’re my guy”. After that, it took 2 years to build this building - this is was 2004, and this was still dirt. And I still had to continue working at my job, and excel, and do everything that everyone else has to do working at a job. So it was a really good feeling, because I knew it was going forward, but I also loved my job running the second oldest restaurant in D.C. – at 1475 Pennsylvania Avenue, the closest address to the White House. The clientele down there were interesting, all the tourists, senators, congressmen, and I cooked for 3 different presidents while I was there. A lot of people don’t get that opportunity. I cooked for President’s Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr., and Bill Clinton. But the one who had the most impact was by far Bill Clinton – not about being a democrat or republican – I just never saw anyone with that certain aura around them which just blew me away. At that time, Steven Spielberg was making the movie Minority Report at The Willard Hotel which was also a part of The Occidental complex. The cast had lunch with us almost every day up in the private dining room while they were filming: Steven Speilberg, Kate Capshaw, and Tom Cruise. And I never went out to say anything with actors, celebrities, or politicians that frequented the restaurant. But I did go out when Bill Clinton was there with the rest of the stars from this movie – and of course there’s secret service all around. So I went out and talked to him for about 15 minutes, and they were all very gracious, and the only who didn’t speak was Tom Cruise – he was almost like a little kid in that group. But Steven Spielberg and Bill Clinton talked to me and ask me questions about food, and they were very genuine. That was really amazing how Bill Clinton stood out among those four very dynamic people. The only person that was controlling that table was Bill Clinton – he had this special aura, and I had never seen that before in spite of growing up in New York and New Jersey. I never saw that, it was really quite impressive.
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You obviously have a passion for this, does your passion drive your desire to put in 110%?
Yes! That’s why with our name on the door it forces us to put in all we’ve got. Because when people come in here, they want to know “who’s Bazin” – because its just a random name to new people. So when they come in, and realize it’s a family name – they’re asking themselves “where’s the family”. So my wife Julie, or myself put in everything. One of us is generally in the building at all times, and certainly at least every day. Because this is a family business. This is not a big corporate thing. We live in a metropolitan area, we have Tysons Corner, all of Northern Virginia which is exploding, but it costs a lot of money to do business here. And the young guys who had a dream of opening a restaurant – its becoming harder and harder in this area because of financial restraints. But fortunately for us, we made a good investment in a condo in Arlington, and that condo basically got us our restaurant and town house out here. And granted, we had to put it all on the line to get the restaurant, but that’s basically how we were able to do it.
Before we opened up my wife was concerned. She worked in the fashion business, not the restaurant business before this… she asks me “if the restaurant doesn’t work out, what do you think we’re gonna do?” So I answer “I don’t if you’re gonna like this answer, but you’re not gonna like me very much – if we’re losing our business, and we’re losing everything we worked our whole life for, I can’t see myself being a very nice person (at least for a little while) because I’ll obviously be upset. Then we might even get divorced, we'll lose the house… so it’s not even an option”.
I felt like there is no option for failure. Even if its 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - I was prepared to do that. So for anyone that wants to open a business - whether its food or whatever - if you don't have that attitude, it can be tough. Because there's a line of people behind you who want to do the same thing. There's a lot of competition out there.
I LIKE TO PUT A PLATE IN FRONT OF YOU AND SEE YOU SMILE. AND THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME, I DON'T NEED ANYMORE THAN THAT.
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How is doing what you love (cooking) a pathway to building relationships and loving people?
It’s the only reason why I do what I do and fortunately I became good at it – where I can make some money. People ask me all the time why I’m in this business and why I do what I do. And my answer is - I like to make people happy – I like to put a plate in front of you and see you smile. And that’s good enough for me, I don’t need anymore than that -I can walk away and my conscious feels good!
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What’s the concept of the food?
The concept of the food is to cook with the seasons. The big changes are the fall and spring – those are the big changes in our weather here. Winter and summer I usually tweak it a bit. I’ll add more grilled items, light and lively items, olive oil, sauces, vinaigrettes in the summer time, and then in the winter time we’ll do more braised meats, braised short ribs, lamb shanks, duck confeit, because that goes with that season. Then in the spring and fall - with the vegetables that are popping in both those seasons, we use an array of those things for those seasons and at any given time 20 different recipes.
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Do you source locally?
I work with all local distributors. My produce, fish, and meat. My meat person is out of Baltimore. I buy all my meats from Creekstone Farms in Kansas. They take care of most of our meats. And I deal with 2 different fish companies. We probably have more fish at any given time than most restaurants do, because I can have anywhere from 6 – 8 different preparations of fish at any given moment. And those are all different preparations – they’re not just a grilled piece of fish with lemon vinaigrette and then everyone gets the same starch – they’re all well thought out, composed dishes – each one to itself.
Most of the fish that we’re working with nowadays is chosen from the perspective of sustainability. Nowadays, even with distributors, they have to work the same way – they have to sell sustainable fish. The sustainability effort is part of distributors’ business as well. If I ask for something more obscure then of course it will be extremely expensive, and that will obviously affect my customers.
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What is something about cooking that you can share with our culinary audience?
When people are learning about cooking - its always best to learn the fundamentals. Always keep your dishes simple. There was a time when I ran certain kitchens and we didn’t put more than 5 things on a dish, because we didn’t want to overdo it. It was always an idea that less was better. And a lot of chefs want to overdo it and throw the kitchen sink in there – and they’ve get everything on the plate, and they will have a lot of flavors, but then those flavors get muddled, and people don’t know which is which.
If you’re growing up in this field, then its really important to be honest with yourself, take your time, and always lay out your ingredients. One of the recipes for success for Bazin’s is our preparation. We’re ready for 50 – 150 people any night of the week – Monday, Tuesday, it doesn’t matter, our kitchen will not go down because we’re always prepared. That’s really the best fundamental thing you can do for yourself as a chef - be prepared. So if you’re making a Shrimp Scampi with garlic and tomatoes and onions, some parsley – have your tomatoes and parsley chopped up. That will help you and prevent you from overcooking your shrimp – cause now you’re shrimp is cooking and it only takes 3 – 4 minutes. But now, if you’re chopping onions – now you’re catching up, and you’re running behind the whole time, its no longer fun. Cooking is not fun in that situation. And it should be fun. And if you have the ingredients, and you can add them step by step, or whatever the approach is – it works. You have to understand the basics first.
There was a time in the early 90’s where people were just coming up with stupid dishes like salmon with chocolate sauce. Because they thought it was creative or something – there was nothing creative about it – and they had no basis in tradition. And everything in life is based tradition and techniques. You can veer off course from those ideas once you understand them, but if you don’t understand them, you’re in no-mans-land. You’re on a runaway train. Every once in a while you could luck out by breaking the rules – but its still lucking out.
Its hard to be a leader of a kitchen with that mindset as well. When you’re a leader and you have a lot of staff – at The Occidental I had 40 people working under me, and all eyes are on Chef and how he or she wants to lead. So you have to have the fundamentals and knowledge so people will trust you and want to work with you. Because if they don’t believe in you they won’t want to work with you, because there are lot of other opportunities out there.
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What’s your leadership philosophy?
There are a few of us out there, like John Krinn at Clarity that have this idea. I’m proficient in management, and I’m proficient in my kitchen and the technical. I come up with every recipe, bottle of wine in the restaurant – I’m not a control freak or anything (HA!) – I buy every plate, fork, and glass – I have it down to the detail. But I also manage very well. One basic thing in managing that I’ve learned with people – for instance here, I have 35 people on my staff, and 15 of them have been with me for 8 – 25 years which is unheard of. And those folks believe in what we’re doing. And the other thing besides money that I do as a manager is offer love and respect. If you give love and respect and give them the basics of a good foundation to be in then everyone feels like they can be themselves. It has to be like family – there’s no other way. And that’s where management styles come in – there’s no yelling in our kitchen, we never yell or raise our voice. And if anyone raises their voice, I go after them and let them know that they’re the ones out of control. In my experience, people who yell and scream just don’t know what’s going on a lot times, and so they yell and get nervous and they don’t have experience. I see right through that.
Kitchens by nature, and historically have been very hostile environments. I was raised in that environment. I think part of that is just that a certain leadership style is to want to dominate. But I’m the complete opposite of that – I don’t micromanage my waitstaff – I want their personalities to come through when they’re interacting with the customers. Customers want to know who you are because this is a neighborhood place. And out of the 35 people on my staff we have about 15 different countries represented on our staff. So dominance doesn’t allow for people to just thrive and be themselves.
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Does Bazins have any plans for the near future - new locations, or business ventures?
The good and bad for me is that I’m going to be turning 58 soon. I consider myself very blessed to be in the position to get paid for my hobby. How many people can really say that? Iv’e been paid for my hobby my whole life -that’s why I still smile at my age. But we’re not planning any other venues, we have a lot going on with this – Bazins is a 14 year old restaurant with a wine list of 350 different bottles of wine, and we change the menu 4 to 6 times a year with an open kitchen and it’s a fun environment.
Next door really turned out to be a blessing in disguise for us. I had this fascination with southwestern food and Mexican food, and I actually moved to Chicago just to be close to this restaurant by Rick Bayliss – the best Mexican chef in the country. And we’d eat there once or twice a month. And the space next door came available, so we put a small plate Mexican restaurant in there. It was fantastic. But, the population here wasn’t really prepared for it – because it was an ethnic food in Vienna. And Vienna doesn’t have a big Mexican or latin population (relatively). So the weekends were packed, but Sunday through Thursday were a little harder. So it made running the business a little harder. We ran it for 2 years, and it was kind of funny because we were put in the top 100 by the Washingtonian, and then 2 weeks later I close it. And everyone is asking me why I’m doing this after being in this months magazine. But I wasn’t making any money – and I don’t do this for ego. Ego went out the window when I started paying my own bills at 20k a month rent – 250k a year! But fortunately we live in a neighborhood that can support it. So anyway, I made a conscious decision to close the Mexican restaurant because it was draining the positive money from Bazins. So we shut it down, and even if I do 1 or 2 parties a month it will pay for rent at a minimum. And fortunately for us, it has mushroomed to where we consistently do 20 to 25 parties a month every month.
We have a private dining director, a full time waitstaff of 3 – 5 people. We created something out of nothing. Fortunately for us, a lot of people were impressed that we were able to turn that business into a success. This is where having experience and putting the time and effort in before you open pays off. Some people open up a business and once it doesn’t work they want to just close the doors. But fortunately we had other ideas so that we just made a simple change and now its cash flow positive. And my decisions to work with the right people, and working as a corporate chef in my early days that gave me a lot of management skills, coming up with recipes – it was really valuable. And even when the restaurant closed, the management skills really helped – because if I was just a chef, maybe I wouldn’t have figured it out. I needed those other skills to help me and ground me and keep me focused, instead of being a crazy chef. Now its been open 5 years, and its been a huge success for us, and based on that its really helped us in so many ways because we do a lot of catering parties. We’re almost like exclusive caterers in terms of catering people that know us because we’re not a typical corporate catering company, and that’s not really us. We do everything based on how we want to do our work – and if a customer understands us then it works. But if a customer doesn’t get that then it might not be the right fit.
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Do your customers need a certain level of sophistication?
When I told my friend in D.C. that I was coming out here in 2004, he responded “are you crazy? There’s a reason why there’s no good restaurants in Vienna”. And I said “No” – I knew that Julie worked at Tysons Corner and was selling $2k dollar suits, and I read everything about the demographics. For instance the education in Fairfax County, and 84% of the county was using the internet, and the county had the highest level of graduates – this is the largest concentration of people that graduate from college – nationwide. And even since then, the mean income has gone way up. I had all these things in my head, I knew there was a certain sophistication level, and I knew there was a need for what we wanted to provide. And we want to provide something that’s contemporary, seasonal, and something that people can wrap their heads around. And I have friends that have restaurants, and people don’t know what they’re eating. And I never took that approach, and that’s ok, because some people go down that lane. My thing was to be here for 15, 20 years, and be a family place, and a neighborhood place.
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So the family idea extends beyond the kitchen and bar, and spills over into the restaurant?
And into the whole community!
IF I WAS JUST A CHEF, MAYBE I WOULDN'T HAVE FIGURED EVERYTHING OUT. I NEEDED THOSE OTHER SKILLS TO HELP ME AND GROUND ME AND KEEP ME FOCUSED ...
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