Alexandria’s Bastille Celebrates 20 Years — And Says Goodbye To A Beloved Employee

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Bastille Brasserie & Bar is celebrating 20 years in Alexandria this September with a month of French food, wine and anniversary events. But the milestone carries a bittersweet note: Noemi Zelaya, the restaurant’s longest-serving employee, will retire Sept. 18.

Chefs and owners Christophe and Michelle Poteaux opened Bastille in 2006 with a clear idea of what they wanted to build—an independently owned neighborhood restaurant where serious French cooking could feel approachable, service could feel personal and guests could return often enough to become friends.

That idea has endured through two decades in a famously demanding business. Bastille moved to its current home at 606 N. Fayette Street in January 2015, expanding into two dining rooms, a bar and café and a courtyard patio. Its menus continue to join classic French technique with seasonal Mid-Atlantic ingredients, while the restaurant’s identity remains closely tied to the people who cook, serve and gather there.

“Alexandria has been our home for twenty years,” Chef Christophe Poteaux said. “Restaurants only reach milestones like this because people continue to walk through the door. We are extremely grateful to our guests, our employees and this community for allowing us to be part of it for so long.”

Recognition Built Around the Team

Bastille enters its anniversary month with fresh recognition from the regional restaurant industry. In June, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington named Bastille’s Juan Ramirez its 2026 RAMMY Manager of the Year. The award honors leadership across the Washington metropolitan area’s restaurant and food-service community.

The restaurant also appeared in Northern Virginia Magazine’s 2026 roundup of six affordable tasting menus, which highlighted Bastille’s two prix-fixe choices. Such recognition underscores what the anniversary itself makes clear: Bastille’s staying power rests not only on individual dishes, but on consistency, value and hospitality sustained over time.

Icons at 20 Revisits Bastille’s Culinary History

Rather than mark the anniversary with a single party, the Poteauxes planned a series of events throughout September. The centerpiece is Icons at 20, a four-course anniversary dinner on Thursday, Sept. 17.

The evening begins with a complimentary glass of Champagne and Chef Michelle Poteaux’s gougères. Guests will then choose among dishes that reflect different chapters of Bastille’s history, including heirloom tomatoes with burrata; tuna tartare with Espelette aioli; house-cured foie gras with buckwheat blinis and caramelized fig; seared jumbo scallops with summer white truffle risotto; petit cassoulet with duck confit, pork belly and Toulouse sausage; and bouillabaisse with market fish, prawns and clams.

Dessert choices include apricot-pistachio bavaroise and a Valrhona Manjari dark chocolate terrine. The dinner is $155 per person, exclusive of tax and gratuity, with special wines selected to accompany the menu. It will be the only dinner menu served in Bastille’s main dining rooms that evening; the Bar + Café will also offer its regular menu.

“Twenty years gives you a lot to look back on,” Michelle Poteaux said. “There are dishes, guests, employees and moments that become part of a restaurant’s story. Icons at 20 is our opportunity to revisit some of those memories while celebrating where Bastille is today.”

Wine, Cake and a Nod to 2006

Throughout September, Bastille is offering The 20.06 List, a rotating selection of bottles priced at $20.06 in honor of the year the restaurant opened.

“We wanted some of the anniversary celebrations to simply be fun,” Michelle Poteaux said. “There aren’t many opportunities to turn 2006 into a wine price, so we decided to take advantage of this one.”

The month also includes a gift-certificate promotion: guests who purchase $100 in Bastille gift certificates will receive a $20 anniversary bonus, subject to the restaurant’s redemption terms.

On Saturday, Sept. 19, Cake + Bubbles will offer a more relaxed birthday celebration during regular dinner service. There is no ticket or separate anniversary menu. Dinner guests will receive a small anniversary treat and celebratory bubbles from Christophe and Michelle.

“Icons at 20 is our opportunity to celebrate the food,” Michelle said. “Cake + Bubbles is really about celebrating the birthday with our guests. We wanted that night to feel easy, happy and inclusive—just come have dinner and celebrate with us.”

Merci, Noemi

The anniversary celebration is inseparable from Zelaya’s farewell. Over two decades, she became far more than a familiar employee. Her steadiness, loyalty and care helped shape the restaurant’s culture and the experience of guests who returned year after year.

“Noemi has given an extraordinary part of her working life to Bastille,” Michelle Poteaux said. “Her dedication and loyalty have meant more to us than we can adequately put into words. We are incredibly grateful for everything she has done for us, our team and our guests. We are happy for her as she begins this next chapter, but we are going to miss her terribly.”

For the Poteauxes, honoring Zelaya is not separate from celebrating Bastille’s longevity; it is central to it. A restaurant may be remembered for cassoulet, Champagne and anniversary dinners, but it becomes part of a city through the people who return to it—and the people who devote years of their lives to welcoming them.