Originally seating 28, the restaurant was reduced to eight tables in the mid-2010s, and staffed only by Chemel, his son Antoine, and his wife Christie.

In 2021, Chemel requested the Michelin stars be withdrawn, and in 2022 he converted the restaurant into a more casual Bistronomie by Baumé.

Chemel, who had worked as a chef at Michelin-starred restaurants in France, was head chef at Chez TJ in Mountain View beginning in early 2008; after it earned two Michelin stars in 2009, he left at the end of the year[1] and in 2010 opened Baumé in nearby Palo Alto.

[2] In an interview in 2017, Chemel said that he aspired to earn a third star,[10] but in 2021 he said he had asked Michelin to remove Baumé from its guide because as an essentially private restaurant, it no longer fit the company's "guidelines".

In a local listing, Chemel described it as "French Cuisine Moderne with a Zen Touch";[15] his training included studying macrobiotic cooking in Japan.