Michel Trama Forced to Close L’Aubergade After 47 Years in Business
L’Aubergade, in Lot-et-Garonne, will not reopen after its annual break. The announcement was made during a local ceremony by the mayor of Puymirol.
After forty-seven years of haute cuisine and culinary innovation, Chef Michel Trama is bringing the L’Aubergade adventure to a close (5 toques, Member of the Gault&Millau Culinary Academy), his iconic hotel-restaurant in Puymirol, a village in Lot-et-Garonne. A major chapter in French gastronomy is coming to a close, marked by the creativity and generosity of a self-taught chef who became a leading figure in the field.
An Unexpected Announcement
The announcement sent shockwaves through the small world of gourmets: L’Aubergade, the legendary Relais & Châteaux establishment and a destination for lovers of haute cuisine for decades, will not reopen its doors after its annual break. The decision, made public during a local ceremony, stems from the sudden termination of a contract with a long-standing energy provider—an event that, according to the mayor of Puymirol, hastened the restaurant’s closure.
The End of a Long History
Born in 1947 in Constantine, Algeria, Michel Trama did not follow the traditional path of great chefs. A former scuba diver, he discovered cooking by chance and out of passion after filling in for an absent chef at a Parisian bistro. Together with his wife Maryse, he opened his first restaurant in Paris in 1974, before establishing L’Aubergade in Puymirol in 1978, where he developed an inventive and deeply personal style of cooking that broke away from the usual conventions of haute cuisine.
Over the decades, Michel Trama earned numerous accolades, including being named Gault&Millau Chef of the Year in 1987 and again in 1991. But L’Aubergade was more than just a restaurant: it was a place where emotion blended with flavor, where the history and terroir of southwestern France were celebrated in an exceptional mansion redesigned by Jacques Garcia. Beyond technical excellence, Trama’s restaurant embodied a humanistic philosophy—an art of hospitality and sharing that captivated several generations of diners. The closure of L’Aubergade has saddened Puymirol and the surrounding area, which saw this establishment as a gastronomic beacon capable of putting an entire region in the spotlight.
At 78, Michel Trama has not yet completely closed the chapter on his culinary life: he has announced that he will speak soon at a press conference to discuss his future projects and his vision for the future of gastronomy. ,;
