Popular French seafood restaurant closes its doors in Paso Robles

A popular French Mediterranean restaurant that specializes in seafood has closed its doors in Paso Robles — and its owners are looking for someone to take over the business.

Paso Terra, owned by Andre and Cristina Averseng at 1032 Pine St., closed on March 29 after 13 years.

The small bistro near Park Cinemas offered a menu featuring dishes ranging from escargot and paella to scallops, lobster bisque and lamb chops.

“The pressure of having a restaurant is like an every day,” Andre Averseng told The Tribune in explaining the couple’s decision. “When you open the first day, everything has to be nice, beautiful, tasty. Then you have to keep that going for all those years.

“The continual pressure to be going to work, that’s what I mean (about) the pressure of staying in the business, of being in the business every day, or to think about it,” he added.

Instead, Averseng, who is originally from the south of France, said he wanted to try something new.

“I was having an idea to develop a product. But being attached to the restaurant becomes a little difficult,” he said.

So now, the Aversengs put Paso Terra up for sale for $285,000, which includes ”the business name, proprietary recipes, a type 41 beer and wine liquor license, existing vendor contracts, a fully functional website, and training for a seamless transition,” according to the real estate listing. The restaurant operates out of a leased space.

Andre Averseng hopes the new owners will keep the menu but was open to new ideas.

“We want to have someone to take over and keep the same idea as regarding the menu. They may be keeping me for advice, for consulting, maybe to form a team and create maybe a different menu, maybe the same, whatever works,” Averseng said.

What’s the history of the now closed seafood restaurant?

The Aversengs opened Paso Terra in August 2012 after running another dining business in the spot for the 10 previous years.

When the Aversengs moved to Paso Robles from Pasadena in 2003, they initially opened a pastry shop called Dining with Andre that offered catering with wine selections, Averseng said.

Business was going well, until the recession in 2008 forced the Aversengs to close up shop in the same place where Paso Terra now sits.

“Then finally, it was 2012 where we had to say, ‘OK, we need to do something else. Otherwise, we are going to die,’” Averseng said. “Then this is where the restaurant came about. We opened in 2012 ... running until just now. This is the end, anyway.”

What’s next for the Aversengs?

While the restaurant may have shut down for now, the Aversengs are not retiring.

Cristina is a Zumba instructor at Centennial Park, and Andre plans to be a consultant for local restaurants and wineries, perhaps even for Paso Terra.

“My passion is for sure good food, good presentation, and I cannot wait to maybe create my online product,” he said. “I am not going to stop, because this morning, I heard on TV that they said, ‘Oh, when someone retires, they have seven years to live.’ They die because they have nothing else to do with the mind. I keep myself busy. I am a manual person. I love to work with my hands.”

Averseng plans to embark on his new venture as a consultant in about a month, he said.