Now here's a kick in the asphalt.
Coup Des Tartes, the romantic French bistro and oldest B.Y.O.B. in Phoenix, is being forced out of its former historic farmhouse home at 4626 North 16th Street to make way for a parking lot.
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A press release from the 17-year-old restaurant says that on June 1, new landowners the Van Tuyl Group, an automotive consulting firm with offices in Arizona, Kansas, and Texas, gave Coup Des Tartes 180 days to move out of their location so that the building can be torn down and the land used for overflow car dealership parking.
"They want to pave our paradise to put up a parking lot, literally," says Coup Des Tartes owner Ron Pacioni. "It breaks our heart."
Pacioni adds that he is continuing to talk with a representative from Van Tuyl in hopes that he can prevent the move and that relocating the restaurant -- which will stay open during the transition -- by the end of the year will be difficult.
Although a new location for Coup Des Tartes has not been determined, Pacioni says that he intends to maintain the romantic look and feel of his restaurant -- wherever that may be.
A call placed to Amber Smith, real estate contract administrator for the Van Tuyl Group, has not yet been returned.