The Restaurant

Situated in a small, white house on Castro Valley Boulevard, set back from the busy traffic, La Maison is a welcoming sight. The restaurant is surrounded by beautifully tended gardens which feature flowers, herbs and vegetables, and is adorned with climbing and cascading grapevines - an atmosphere which beckons one to enter.

Upon stepping inside La Maison, one is instantly transported. The restaurant has a simple, refined decor - not the elaborate interior of some expensive designer restaurants, but rather, the feel of some contemporary French restaurants - charming, with street scenes of Paris decorating the walls, yet understated - at La Maison, the food is the star.

The Staff

La Maison is family owned and managed. This is a three person operation.Chef/Owner, Daniel Pont, is in the kitchen, wife and co-owner, Asta at reception, and the third integral part of this team is Kasey, the gracious server.

Daniel is a native of Lyon, France and has over forty years of hospitality and fine dining experience. His background ranges from Le Bacchus in Quebec City to Maxim's of Paris in Chicago, to Scandia of Beverly Hills as well as many top restaurants in San Francisco. He has worked in positions ranging from chef de rang to food and beverage director in five-star resorts and hotels.

As owner and chef of La Maison, Daniel's day begins very early, and finishes very late. In the morning, he shops for fresh ingredients and supplies for the restaurant, then comes to the restaurant to begin his preparations for the evening. In addition to his duties in the kitchen, Daniel is also responsible for caring for and maintaining the gardens, this itself a full time job. Many of the herbs and vegetables featured in his cuisine are right from his own garden, organically grown!

In his spare time (yes, there is a little!), Daniel enjoys reading and keeping up with current affairs, and professes to reading several different world newspapers and publications every week.

Kasey has been working with the Pont family for the past fourteen years. Her training with Daniel began at Le Maconnais Restaurant in Hayward while she was a high school student and continued while studying at Cal State Hayward. Kasey speaks seven languages, has traveled extensively in France and throughout Europe, has learned much about French culture and ways of dining, and is knowledgeable about wines. Kasey is dedicated to the business and loves her profession.

Asta Pont, although usually only present at La Maison on weekends and busier evenings, is a very special part of La Maison as well. In addition to sacrificing her husband to the restaurant about sixteen hours a day in order that the lucky guests of La Maison might enjoy his food, she also is a charming presence on weekends.

"You will experience French Contemporary Cuisine when you dine at La Maison, that is to say, a return to the goodness and simplicity of grandmother's cuisine, with a modern twist. We cook everything less and avoid excesses. What I hate most about is cuisine in which there is too much embellishment, the combination of strange and uncomplimentary ingredients, and totally too much of everything, everywhere in the plate. Excesses serve no purpose.

In my cuisine there is not a single sauce simmering in advance on the stove. The butter is still in the refrigerator. So is the cream. When the first customer arrives, we start from scratch. There is no stale flavors or washed out feeling of anything that has been boiling on the stove for hours and hours. The word roux has been eliminated from my repertoire; I thicken my sauces by reduction, a simple process which not only provides a better body to the sauce, but also concentrates and sharpens the flavor which gives the basic character of the dish.

Simple, well made cuisine, cooked with quality ingredients, is the ideal at La Maison - no exotic towers, no high rises of food - the artistry of the plates is simple and understated and does not interfere with the guest's enjoyment of the food. That is to say, the philosophy of nouvelle cuisine is that the experience of dining should be totally pleasurable, with the presentation of the food complementing the quality and the sophistication of the cuisine. My cuisine redefines the traditional approach to French cooking and yet brings it in tune with the habits and mood of our times and of that of my guests. Simple and pleasurable dining."