Upton, Tronche, Ramirez beachside

Bernard Tronche has opened his second Sapristi! Bistro and Wine Bar, and he's working harder than he's ever worked in his life. The man behind Fort Worth's upscale source of French "peasant food," St.-Emilion on West 7th Street, and the more casual Sapristi! on Forest Park at Park Hill has returned to the seaside. Rosemary Beach is a new, planned community between Destin and Panama Beach, Fla. How it reminds Tronche of his youth in a brasserie in Arcachon, France, near Bordeaux where he grew up, is beyond Chow, Baby, but it does. "I loved working by the sea and have always hoped to return with a small place of my own," he vows in a press release written and distributed by his wife, Karin Kelly, who's still in Fort Worth. He's cooking alongside Gonzalo Ramirez, a former Saint-Emilion chef for 10 years. The dining room is managed by Cody Upton, also of Fort Worth.

The menu at the new place, which will close at the end of the beach season in late September and reopen in March, runs heavy on sandwiches, salads, and pasta, and Sapristi's famous herb-dusted Belgian fries are also available.

Kelly's vacation planning led to the new restaurant. "I was looking around for a place for a family vacation, and I had been very intrigued by the advertisements for this new planned town. The ads made it look so beautiful," Kelly recalled. "I kept asking if we could do this as an adventure for the whole family, and we did stay down there for a week, but now Bernard's on the adventure and I'm back here working."

Kelly says her husband, who has left his Fort Worth establishments under the management of two longtime employees, faces a major labor shortage at the new place. "They can't find a dishwasher," she said last week. "Bernard's washing the dishes! Nobody wants to do that. That's something you just take for granted in a big place like Dallas-Fort Worth, but that's a small town down there. And food supply is a problem, too. Here, he's used to getting anything he wants at any time. There, his suppliers come from Birmingham, Atlanta, and Miami. When he needs something on short notice, he has to run down to the store." Ah, the beach life!