Il y a un nouveau restaurant en ville, et c’est fabuleux. Translation: There’s a new restaurant in town, and it’s fabulous.

I am a little biased. I spent a year in France as a tween, and after six months of eating only baguettes, I finally branched out and sampled some classic French dishes. It took me a while to appreciate what all the hype was about, but today I know a good boeuf bourguignon and salade niçoise when I meet them. Such culinary delights have not been easy to come by in Bozeman, until recently.

Allow me to introduce you to La Brasserie, opened in May of 2024 by Parisian-born Aloys Scheer. La Brasserie now occupies the former location of Blend Wine Bar in the Downtowner building, marking the end of that establishment. Fortunately, French restaurants are renowned for their exceptional wine offerings, and La Brasserie is no exception. The restaurant presents a curated selection of wines sourced through Scheer’s exclusive relationships with various vineyards, culminating in a signature house blend: “Vin Maison.”

I recently had the privilege of visiting with Scheer, and I asked about how his cozy little French eatery came to fruition.


Katie Thomas: Tell us what “La Brasserie” means.

Aloys Scheer: La Brasserie is a place to gather; a community hub — it’s a French bistro that offers small bites paired with wine. Brasseries actually originated in Belgium, where Belgian brewmasters had created brasseries so they could serve their beer. And over time, the French kind of epitomized it by creating bustling, busy French bistros where good wine was served and people gathered. I took a bit of a different approach here, because I’m also a winery. So, this is an outpost for me to serve my wine and pair it with French cuisine.

KT: How was La Brasserie conceptualized?

AS: I’m French, but at the age of eight, my family moved us stateside from Paris, so I grew up in the United States. I would always go back to France in the summers, where I’d spend time with the grandparents and other relatives. I ended up going to culinary school in the U.S., and after that I moved back to France. I spent 20 years in the corporate world as a chef/front-of-house point person. Over time I got my masters, became a sommelier, and a spirits specialist. My last position was a director of food and beverage at the Armory Hotel. During that time, I met the previous owner of Blend, who was walking away from this space. Since I had been in restaurants for so long and I knew there was no French restaurant here in town, I decided to take a stab at my heritage, and here we are.

KT: What would you like people to experience when they walk through your doors?

AS: It’s intended to feel like your neighborhood French bistro that serves comfort food. I want people to feel relaxed here; I don’t want people to think that because we have white tablecloths that we’re a specialty restaurant. The white tablecloths and the parchment paper are a nod to traditional brasseries. I want my customers to feel like they’re being taken care of. This is a place where you can come in and have just a small bite to eat, or you can have a three- or four-course dinner.

KT: What would you say makes La Brasserie unique in the Bozeman food scene?

AS: All our recipes are French classics. We do specialty dinners once a quarter, where we invite a guest chef to come here and prepare a menu, and usually theme it around a different type of French cuisine. We source our wines from the Pacific Northwest, then bring them to our production warehouse in Four Corners, where we bottle, keg, label, and then serve them here at the restaurant. Importing French wine from France is a bigger hurdle than expected so, right now, we’re entertaining the West Coast in general, and will probably get into Napa Valley and Sonoma at some point for new labels.

KT: What menu item do regulars keep coming back for?

AS: The classic steak frites au poivre is popular, as are the coq au vin and beef bourguignon. We are a full-fledged dinner house restaurant, with a full menu – you can choose from a prefix menu, which is a hallmark of brasseries, or you can break it up into à la carte plates. We have weekly rotating specials, our weekly “menu du jour.” And people come here just to sit at the counter and have a glass of wine with a local baguette and butter. We have happy hour from four to six p.m., where you can do a $5 glass of wine and $5 bites.

KT: Do you personally have a favorite menu item?

AS: I love seafood. So I love our bouillabaisse, or the mussels and fries. Funny enough, despite being in Montana, we actually get really fresh seafood — like, day of.

KT: What do you enjoy most about being part of the Bozeman community?

AS: This community is near and dear to my heart. My family has been here for over 12 years, and I’ve seen the town grow, so to be part of that growth is amazing. It’s an honor to add a little sense of eclecticness to the dining scene, and to give the locals more of an option when they go out.

KT: Do you have any special events coming up?

AS: Yes, we have a Dîner des Amis (“Friends Dinner”) coming up. This is our quarterly guest chef dinner that I mentioned. We always try to partner with a local farm, taking a farm-to-table, vine-to-glass approach.

KT: What’s the best way for people to follow these events, and sign up for these dinners?

AS: You can follow us on Instagram, and we do a newsletter. I’m also a partner with the Downtown Bozeman Association and the Chamber of Commerce, so you can find information through those organizations, too.

KT: Anything else you’d like readers to know about La Brasserie?

AS: I like to have variety in everything we do, so we have kind of themed nights —  for example, Monday night is fondue night, Tuesday is Ladies’ Night, Wednesday is Wine Wednesday, Thursday is Dine and Dance, where we partner with Downbeat Vintage Swing Society for swing dancing after dinner, around 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday are more of weekend date nights. We have a private dining room and can accommodate private events. And finally, because we’re a winery, we have the capacity to do direct-to-consumer and wholesale on our labels.

Whether you’re a wine person or not, La Brasserie is a must-try. Walking into the romantic space evokes a true Parisian experience, and the meal to come will not disappoint. Even if you have meat-and-potato Montanans or small children with you, I can guarantee that there’s something on the menu for everyone. Go find your inner madame or monsieur and enjoy La Brasserie’s sophisticated, yet down-to-earth food. Bon appetite!