Adjoining restaurant concepts Aix and Tin Tin Wine Bar highlight Provençal cuisine in West Midtown

Chef Nick Leahy

West Midtown’s adaptive reuse property, Stockyards— home to Donetto and The Painted Duck—welcomes two additional culinary concepts this year: the adjoining Aix Restaurant and Tin Tin Wine Bar. Helmed by Saltyard’s Chef Nick Leahy, both concepts borrow inspiration from Southern France.

“My family comes from Provence, and my first food memories and the things that inspired me to cook come from trips there as a child,” says Leahy.

Aix, which takes its name from the French city, will offer a full menu of Provençal food, classic French cuisine’s lighter, seasonally driven cousin. Think less butter and cream and more seafood, vegetables, olive oil and citrus, with the menu comprised of dishes such as bouillabaisse with local seafood, roasted tomato gazpacho with lump crab and English pea salad, and tarte tropézienne, a dessert created in St. Tropez.

While Aix offers a refined atmosphere and traditional dining format, Tin Tin is “a little more whimsical and funky,” says Leahy. Named after his great aunt, the wine bar’s walls will showcase stencils of her handwritten recipe book. Guests can enjoy small plates, including vegetable tarts, cheeses and crudo.

“I think the concept fits into West Midtown, which is a part of town to which people travel to eat,” says Leahy. “It’s great to be in an area with so many other chefs in close proximity; it makes it an exciting area in which to cook.”

Photo: Courtesy ai3 Inc