L'Empreinte

A starred table inside the Tour Rouge

L'Empreinte occupied the Tour Rouge, a listed twelfth-century tower on the ancient ramparts of Buxy, a wine village in Burgundy about fifteen kilometres from Chalon-sur-Saône. It was founded by chef Maxime Kowalczyk with his partner Tiffany Gastal, who ran the front of house, and it earned a Michelin star quickly for what the house called sincere and authentic cooking.

Kowalczyk is a Bourguignon in his thirties who trained under top starred chefs before choosing Buxy as his own base. That choice is what distinguishes the story: a cook with that training would normally open in a city, and instead he took a twenty-two-cover room inside a medieval tower in a village and built a starred kitchen there. The house joined the Teritoria community, whose framing of a notable table fits a restaurant whose subject was regional heritage.

Noble produce with sweet and salt against it

The cooking was modern French and inventive, drawn from local, seasonal, terroir-driven produce and organised around circuits courts, short supply chains. Kowalczyk's particular habit was to work noble ingredients against sweet and salty accents, and to build associations that could surprise without losing their logic, Bresse poultry with dandelion and cider among them.

The named signatures set the range: foie gras de canard mi-cuit, Saint-Jacques d'Erquy piquée à la truffe, and a trompe l'oeil dessert. Mi-cuit foie gras is a test of temperature control and nothing else. A scallop studded with truffle is a test of restraint, since the truffle will take the dish if the hand allows it. A trompe l'oeil dessert is a test of technique in the plainest sense, because it either convinces or it does not. Menus changed with the season, and the wine list stayed curated to the region around it.

Stone walls, wood, and a large fireplace

The room was refined and warm, with stone walls, wood panelling and a large fireplace holding a serene, intimate atmosphere that set medieval authenticity against contemporary touches. The capacity was small and the register quiet. Terrace dining, wireless service and menus in French and English served a mixed clientele.

Those guests were gastronomy enthusiasts, locals, and visitors working through Burgundy's vineyards and the Voie Verte cycling routes, for whom this was the starred option among the village's pizzerias and bistros. The house also took private events for up to a hundred and ten, which a tower with grounds can absorb and a city dining room cannot.

A last service, and a broader reopening

L'Empreinte served its final meal in December 2025. Kowalczyk and Gastal then partnered with the entrepreneurs Hugo and Natalia Cence and reopened the address in February 2026 as Brasserie du Pinacle, expanding from twenty-two covers to fifty-two, with renovated parquet, furniture, paint and tableware, and a forty-five euro signature menu that keeps Kowalczyk's oeufs en meurette.

The stated aim was to reach a wider audience without abandoning high-end ambition, including the pursuit of stars again, and the founders' philosophy of local seasonal produce carried over unchanged. The house held one Michelin star in the 2025 guide before the change, and the Tour Rouge itself stayed exactly where it was.