Changes at Café Shelburne 

After 25 years, the owners of one of Chittenden County’s most beloved fine-dining institutions are pulling up stakes. Patrick and Christine Grangien announced last week on Café Shelburne’s Facebook page that they are ready to call it quits.

That same day, Patrick Grangien told Seven Days, “We just want to take a little bit of time — a much-needed break.” He hopes to remain open until October 12, for one final Saturday service. But Grangien said he realizes that, with his employees seeking other jobs, he may lack sufficient staff to feed his fans that long. His advice: If you want to taste his food one last time, come as soon as possible.

Grangien said the couple will remain in Vermont, and his Facebook note indicates they won’t be idle: “We are turning over a new leaf, and we are moving on to exciting projects.” Grangien’s answer when asked whether those unnamed projects would be food related was a curt “I don’t think so.”

The chef was also cautious about disclosing the identity of the two new owners who will reopen the restaurant on October 24, still as Café Shelburne. For now, he was willing to say only that one of the pair was once his sous-chef at the restaurant. The Shelburne town offices had received no word of the sale at press time.

Though he’s not overly nostalgic about his quarter century of feeding Shelburne volaille aux champignons and œufs à la neige, Grangien said he’s grateful for his time running the restaurant. “It was a good experience. We are a little bit sad,” he said. “We made quite some friends those years. It’s tough for us to call it quits.”

The original print version of this article was headlined "French Twist."