MA Maison Restaurant

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We invite you to experience Ma Maison restaurant, renowned for its authentic French cuisine prepared with fresh California attitude. Owners Lionel and Janet Le Morvan will treat you like treasured guests in this refined yet comfortable setting in Aptos. You’ll feel warmly welcome in Ma Maison's charming atmosphere, whether you enjoy lunch in the intimate patio area, linger at the classic bar or share a romantic dinner close to the fireplace in one of the two dining areas of this beautifully renovated 1928 home.

Growing up between his parents' home in Paris and the family home on the Normandy countryside, Lionel experienced fishing, gardening, and mushroom scavenging as simply a part of life. He showed an early and noteworthy inclination toward cooking, even in a family that emphasized the art of cuisine -- his mother and sister returned from shopping one day to find eight-year-old Lionel standing on a stool by the stove, flambéing bananas.
By age 16, Lionel began to cultivate his talent with the master chef Jacques LeDivellec in La Rochelle, later diversifying his abilities by traveling, studying and practicing culinary identities in Japan, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. It was during this time that Lionel met his future wife, Janet.
In 1998, the two returned to Janet's hometown of Aptos whereupon the Shadowbrook restaurant promptly engaged Lionel’s culinary talents as chef for two years. Then, after four years at Bear Valley Lodge running the food and beverage department, Lionel and Janet realized their dream, opening Ma Maison in February 2005. Since taking over the location that famed Chez Renee restaurant once occupied, Ma Maison is again offering gastronomic delights of French-meets-California cuisine to the community.