Mention “Les Baumettes” to a Marseillais and many immediately think of the prison that shares the name. Since the 1940s, this peripheral neighborhood has housed the city’s biggest penitentiary, where Marseille’s most notorious gangsters and French Connection collaborators did time. The prison is also infamous for France’s last execution by guillotine – shockingly recent, in 1977.
For hikers and rock-climbers, on the other hand, Les Baumettes (whose name means “little grotto” in Occitan) is a gateway to the limestone fjords in the Calanques National Park. For Marseillais in the know, that entrance hides a unique place that is at once an eatery, escape and a voyage back in time.
Chez Zé straddles the city’s edge and the park’s periphery, the last building before the Chemin de Morgiou zigzags into nature. Since 1960, the pizzeria/bar/restaurant has been dishing out wood-fired pizzas and homestyle Provençal fare like baked pastas and supions a l’ail (garlic squid) – food beloved by Marseillais, then and now. If it feels like time has stopped here at the southern tip of Marseille, that’s because the menu, décor and ownership hasn’t changed for over 60 years.
A giant black and white photo hangs inside the entrance. That’s Joseph Cimolai (aka Zé), his wife, and his cousin. The son of Piedmontese immigrants, Zé came to Les Baumettes to work in the nearby quarries. When the local bar du quartier was for sale, he enlisted his large Italian family to help him run the joint. In 1980, he passed down the pizza peel to his children, then his grandsons Christian and Christophe, the current owners, took over in 2000. “I grew up here,” smiles Christian, who recalls playing on the restaurant’s patio as a kid while his parents worked.
Christian began making pizzas and manning the bar in his teens. Now, he manages the front of the house while his brother runs the kitchen. With his wife as a waitress and various cousins behind the bar, Chez Zé is still a family affair. “Our clan can do it all,” he winks, as he pulls a pizza out of the oven while his cousin takes a cigarette break. Like the wooden bar, the dining room has been preserved, with its wood-paneled walls, faded frescoes of boats and the Bonne Mère, and speckled linoleum floors. The only modern features the Cimolai brothers have added are a refurbished exterior and the black logo tees and puffer vests the waiter’s sport.
Our waiter props two chalkboard menus at our table the moment we sit down. One is for Chez Zé’s famous pizzas. The jet-black supions a l’encre, squid swimming in ink sauce, is a house specialty created by Christian’s mom. Fans of New York-style pizza we’ll appreciate the restaurant’s pie made with mozzarella and spicy Neapolitan sausage, which riffs on a classic pepperoni pizza. Christian also touts the Tout Bidon (“all in the belly” in French). With arugula, prosciutto, Parmesan and buffalo mozzarella, it is “a light option when it’s hot out.”
“We’re not boulangers (bakers),” insists Christian, bucking the trend for pizzaiolos to obsess over fermentation times and type of flour. “Our recipe is not secret,” he continues, “what matters most is the oven,” his words ringing true as we devour the beautifully blistered crust. Tucked away behind the bar, the narrow wood-fired four was built by a family friend, Carlos. The octogenarian still stops in for coffee daily, a custom held by other long-standing habitants of the neighborhood who use the bar as their community center.
“Our recipe is not secret,” he continues, “what matters most is the oven,” his words ringing true as we devour the beautifully blistered crust.
But we don’t just come for the pizzas. The other menu brims with Provençal fare that feels like you’re dining in a Marseillais’ home. To start, follow the lead of many tables with moules gratinées, breadcrumb-topped mussels baked in garlic-parsley butter. The sizzling mussels are baked in the wood-fire oven, as are the comforting aubergine à la parmesan (eggplant Parmesan), brousse-stuffed cannelloni and gnocchi maison à la crème d’ail et parmesan. The latter, pillowy house-made gnocchi in creamy garlic sauce topped with a golden-brown parmesan crust, is deliciously decadent – and our table’s favorite.
Though stuffed, the tray of desserts delivered to the party behind us is too tempting. Two Marseille pizzeria classics, a mystère, praline-crusted vanilla ice cream from artisan glacier Maison de la Glace, and café liégeois, a whipped cream-topped coffee ice cream sundae, are refreshing enough to feel light. Our friend claims the baba au rhum, the iconic French rum-soaked cake, is one of the best he’s tasted. The waitstaff might also offer a limoncello, amaretto or minty-green Get on the house. In Marseille, these digestivi are traditionally poured for regulars or celebrating clients as a boozy thanks or congratulations.
When you reserve Chez Zé – recommended due to its popularity and out-of-the-way location – be sure to note where you want to sit. The convivial dining room gets as toasty as the wood-fired oven in the winter, warmed by the winter sun. The outdoor patio is ideal for balmy summer eves and sunny winter days – we could dine sans jackets in February! Adjacent to the road that leads into the park, the sprawling terrasse tempts hikers streaming by.
Christian has noticed the increase in crowds since the Calanques became a national park in 2012. That’s why we prefer his place in the off season, when the empty trails and moderate temperatures are ideal for a calorie-burning hike before a hearty meal. When we’re just in the mood to eat, as most Chez Zé customers are, any day of the year is good here. Except Wednesdays. Not a typical day off – most French restaurants shutter Sundays and Mondays – Christian has stuck to his family’s practice of closing the same day as French schools, to watch the kids. It’s one of the many traditions that keeps Chez Zé ticking, and keeps it appealing to anyone who is willing to make the trek.
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