BY STEPHANIE LAM
Daily Post Correspondent
Chez TJ — the Mountain View restaurant known for its Michelin star meals is closing its doors.
George Aviet, owner of Chez TJ at 938 Villa St., announced the news in an Instagram post yesterday. The fine dining restaurant stopped accepting reservations as of yesterday according to its website.
In a statement on Chez TJ’s website, Aviet said he and the staff are appreciative of the “community that made the restaurant special.”
“This was not an easy decision, and we are incredibly grateful for your support, loyalty, and the many memories we’ve shared together over the years,” Aviet wrote. “Serving you has truly been an honor.”
For more than four decades Chez TJ served French-style meals to customers at its historic 1894 property, which was built by Julius and Fanny Weilheimer. Julius was a vice president of the Mountain View Farmers and Merchant’s Bank and a town council member. Aviet and former restauranteur Thomas J. McCombie purchased the space in the 1980s, and served Chez TJ’s first meal in 1982.
McCombie died from a heart attack in 1994. Aviet continued running the restaurant, and earned its first Michelin star in 2007. In the last few years, the restaurant fell on hard times. The Covid pandemic slowed down the fine dining business and customers were slow to return, Aviet said. The restaurant lost its star last summer and was facing financial difficulties.
In November 2017 Aviet and the owners of Tied House, a brewery neighboring Chez TJ partnered with developer Dan Minkoff to replace the two establishments with a four-story office project. The structure also called for creating a larger ground floor restaurant space.
While the majority of the council at the time supported the project , a number of residents at the November meeting said they were worried that the demolition of two recognizable buildings will change the downtown area.
In a 3-4 vote in December, the council opposed the project, insisting Chez TJ’s Victorian house was historically significant and could not be demolished.
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