Rhone Gard: Maximin Jullien, the Gardéchois who brings sunshine to the plates

Friendly handover between the former chef of Drillo, Benjamin on the left, and Maximin Jullien, here during the inauguration of the restaurant Le Gardéchois on Tuesday evening. More than three hundred guests came and enjoyed a warm evening organized by the Maximin team in its new establishment. C. C. – Midi Libre

Music and conviviality during the inauguration Tuesday evening. Official opening this Sunday, May 26. C. C. – Midi Libre

The restaurant is located in Aiguèze, at a place called La Blanchisserie, a few meters from the Ardèche. Le Drillo (the name of the predecessor establishment) gives way to Le Gardéchois. DR

The Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas team on the Pont-Saint-Esprit market. Maximin Jullien will considerably reduce his market tour to devote himself to the restaurant. He maintains that of Pont. C. C. – Midi Libre

Maximin Jullien discovers the plaque offered by his friends and neighbors at Accroche Aventure, next to Pierre Duz, the manager of the treetop adventure park. DR

The popular and very active nurseryman and market gardener from Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas bought a restaurant in Aiguèze for which the philosophy is always motivated by the love of the land and short circuits. The establishment opens this Sunday, May 26 (already sold out!).

Plants, passionately. Nurseryman, market gardener and restaurateur. Maximin Jullien, a "local guy", whose family is from Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas, farmer from father to son for years generations, learned, alone, gradually."I’took flight on my own", said this Gardois simply 38 years old, still active and always smiling. He discovers early on that he has a green thumb. At the age of 10, "I put a branch of honeysuckle in the water, roots grew. For Christmas, my mother gave me a book on cuttings. Without knowing it, I had taken cuttings!".
From the fields to the plate, everything happens naturally. Maximin Jullien grew up in a family that loved cooking. One of her big sisters, Delphine, expresses her talents in Pont-Saint-Esprit, with "La cuisine de Delph'". "As a child, for certain occasions, I opened the fridge, I improvised a menu, I prepared a table in the garage so that the surprise was complete…& ;quot;, says Maximin.

Priority to short circuits

In 2009, he created a nursery, while working in a store in Bollène."I couldn't cope, I started market gardening and quickly made it in Pont-Saint-Esprit. I developed fruit and vegetables on several hectares." He launched, at a time when drive-thru didn't exist, Max's baskets , selling up to a hundred baskets of local fruit and vegetables (eco-responsible farming) per week. "In 2013, it was too quiet for my taste. I bought a tavern in Cornillon." It will last five years! In 2014, he experienced "one of the worst moments of his life" : due to hail, it loses all its production in fifteen seconds. "The restaurant was a hit. I used to bring out up to a hundred seats. But it wasn't profitable… I was asked to come back for some circuit work t [he had put his market gardening production on hold]. People appreciate my ethics and the choice of my partners. I came back strong thanks to people's expectations."
2024. The Jullien nursery has become one of the largest in the region. "Three-quarters of the production finds buyers among professionals, landscapers." The market gardening activity is turning also full, with up to ten markets per week (read below) and a farm market, since confinement: "It’has become our most big deal! Which also has a social side: people come to have a good time, it's cute: friendships between customers are created." Maximin Jullien supplements his production with fruits and vegetables from his colleagues in Gard and Ardèche, and by sourcing from Min de Cavaillon and Pont-de-l’Isère (Drôme), an hour's drive away, to offer the best-stocked stall possible. Its leitmotif from the start: short circuits.

A team of ten people

"I swore to myself not to return to the restaurant business, even though I was still passionate about it. I came across the announcement of this restaurant for sale, Le Drillo in Aiguèze. I visited. In five minutes, it was decided. I had a good fight with the bank." An establishment which benefits from one of the most beautiful panoramas in the area, on the Ardèche river, in the hamlet of La Blanchisserie, a few meters from the bridge which joins Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche.
Between purchase and opening, everything was done in record time. It must be said that Maximin is well surrounded. "Eva, my twin sister, supports me 10,000%. She has always worked with me. Without her, I would never have been able to do all this. Marion Vidal helps me with all the administrative part. It’s also thanks to her that I can move forward." In total, the Jullien team has ten employees. "I’am lucky to have a great team. There are communicating vessels between activities, this creates family working relationships."
He named his brand new restaurant Le Gardéchois-Chez Maximin."Geographically, we are in the Gard, while we magnificently overlook the Ardèche. So it’s a wink to the neighbors! When you come here, "Gardéchois" takes on its full meaning, we are Gardois, but happiness is also in Ardèche!"& nbsp;Tuesday evening, during the inauguration of Gardéchois, more than 300 guests came. His friends and neighbors at Accroche Aventure gave him a superb wooden plaque with the restaurant logo. And they built a slide that the kids loved!

"He especially likes to make people happy"

As for the kitchen, chef Maximin will offer a minimalist menu, with fresh local produce, "a menu renewed throughout the season. This morning [Friday], we picked zucchini, the first gooseberries of the year, they will be included in the menu.&nbsp ;The entrepreneur who "loves life" will slow down its market gardening activity. "I am handing over three quarters of the market activity this summer but I am going to develop semi-wholesale sales for fruits and vegetables, to continue to distribute the products of colleagues .I have a large network.I have developed sales in short circuits a lot." Eva Jullien, her sister who works just as passionately in the shadow of his popular brother, confides: "He’s a challenger, he likes challenges. But most of all he likes to make people happy. What fills him with love is giving pleasure." 

For Max’s baskets, a reduced market tour

"Les Paniers de Max", the name of the activityé market gardener of Maximin Jullien, went up to in power up to ’à participate à ten markets per week (until Villeneuve-lès-Avignon), "with two trucks and two éteams" quot;, specifies the boss. With the opening of his restaurant, the Gardois sells his market tour. However, he intends to continue some of these meetings to which he is very keen. So that of Saturday à Pont-Saint-Esprit, that of Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas on Tuesday, and in the summer, on Thursday, that of Aiguèze. The market &agrav; the Wednesday farm is also maintained. "With my twin sister Eva, we know our customers so well…, testifies the thirty-year-old. There is of course the quality of the product. products but also human contact. We are very close to our customers, helpful. I am going to develop the semi-wholesale. I have more and more large clients in volume"  (restaurants, supermarkets, etc.).

The restaurant opens for Mother's Day

The Gardéchois is sold out on this first day of opening, this Sunday, May 26, for Mother's Day, with a hundred cutlery à noon and fifty covers in the evening. In June, the establishment will be open Friday and Saturday evening, Sunday lunchtime and evening. In July and August, meet every evening and Sunday lunchtime. Maximin Jullien also plans to privatize the place demand and wishes to develop catering services. Reservation at 06 77 25 20 72.

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