Andrea Calstier and Elena Oliver almost returned to France when their East Village restaurant Pappilles, closed in 2022. With Calister handling the cooking and Oliver managing the front of house, the husband-and-wife team knew they wanted something different—and more space. When their current business partner approached them to come to North Salem to look at a building he had just purchased for a new endeavor, the two admittedly had next to no knowledge about Westchester. They made the trip from the city to check out the real estate, and something clicked. “It was an opportunity for us to do what we wanted to do while staying around New York,” explains Calstier.
An attendee of culinary school in Marseille, Calstier cut his teeth in various Michelin-starred restaurants in France before moving to New York to work with the iconic Daniel Boulud. While refining his skills at Boulud’s two-star rated restaurant, Daniel, Calstier became laser focused on achieving that level of personal recognition one day.
The first half of the couple’s two-restaurants-under-one-roof concept, Cenadou Bistrot, opened in June 2023, serving the classic Provençal comfort food that Calstier and Oliver grew up with. The fine dining space, La Bastide by Andrea Calstier, rolled out its first hyperlocal multicourse tasting menu in February 2024. Less than a year after those inaugural plates left the kitchen, Calstier and Oliver would be sitting at the Michelin Guide Ceremony in Manhattan, listening to their names called for a star.
The awarding of the star to La Bastide reaches far beyond recognizing a talented chef with a strong pedigree—it is a planting of the flag proving the upscale Westchester culinary scene has the chops to compete with the likes of two-Michelin Star Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Calstier considers that an accomplishment in its own right. “It was the freedom of building exactly what we had in mind, not really knowing if it will work, because there’s no other option like that in Westchester,” he explains. “Then it became the excitement of seeing the clientele respond positively and keep coming back.”
Styled as a modern farmhouse, the duplex of dining gives nods to the pastoral landscape around it, the walls dotted with horse paintings by French artists. The intimate dining room offers guests a masterclass in delicate luxury, from the fitted leather tablecloths to the grilled gem lettuce salad paired with poached celtuce, cured egg yolk, and an olive oil sabayon. While the offerings always rotate, Calstier has created close relationships with local purveyors that put him in front of stunning components like squab, razor clams, and sea bass. It is potentially those fresh ingredients, artfully balanced and treated with careful experimentation, that won him the star so swiftly.
“To be honest, we were not expecting to get a Michelin Star the first year,” he confesses. “I think we have enough experience to believe that we were worth the star—and I know that our cuisine is worthy of it. We are surrounded by talent and what we do every single day is so special. Creating food that is very much in our DNA while using local ingredients is what sets us apart.”
Calstier also points out another factor that could have edged him into that early star: Because they are so far outside of the city, the restaurant puts many diners in a position to travel for the three-hour dinner service. There needs to be significant appreciation to pull patrons from all corners of the New York metropolitan area. “When you are making so many personal choices and building this type of offering outside the city, being recognized like this is a validation of the risks we took,” he says.
To Calstier, it is all a humbling process—he sees the remarkably fast granting of a star as a feather in his cap, not the end of the line. “You cook first before you become a chef, and being a talented cook doesn’t make you a good chef,” he says. “It takes time, and building a great team is an important part of the process as well.” La Bastide has set a new standard for culinary excellence in the county. For Calstier, the next step is about continuing to innovate and push the dining experience even further. “There are no rules. That’s the beauty of creating this type of menu—there are constant tweaks and things are always evolving.”
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