SHERMAN OAKS—The French restaurant Café Bizou will be closing its doors on Sunday, March 31 after 25 years of business in the city of Sherman Oaks.
“It was not a sudden decision….but a conclusion to a great chapter,” states a notification posted on the Café Bizou website. While the Sherman Oaks location is closing its doors, the café’s newest location in Agoura Hills will remain open for business.
The restaurant opened in the early 1990s on Ventura Boulevard east of Fatburger. Chefs Neil Rodgers and Philippe Gris left Café Neil which was under new ownership at the time. Both Chefs Gris and Rodgers had a concern over the rising prices at Café Neil under new ownership.
Due to the 15 percent rise in price, business started to decline. Rodgers and his colleague, Gris brought the café’s menu with them to open a new restaurant called Café Bizou; with the idea of providing good French food at reasonable prices. Café Bizou offered the same dishes at a price that was 30 percent cheaper than Café Neil’s.
Café Bizou had a total of three locations in the Southern California region. The first one in Sherman Oaks, then Pasadena, and Santa Monica. The Café Bizou in Pasadena opened in 2005 and closed in 2018. The Santa Monica location underwent a name change in the early 2000s before Gris and Rodgers regained ownership in 2010. After the reissue of ownership, the establishment in Santa Monica closed its doors in 2013.
The newest location in Agoura Hills ]opened on Canwood Street in 2017. The restaurant still provides the same menu like Steak Au Poivre, Pate Du Jour, and Veal Sweetbreads. The cafe will still provide its $2 corkage fee.
