French chef Daniel Pont has passed his tiny La Bonne Soupe Café on to a couple who bring the same passion for French cookery. Chef Ed Stoddard and his fiancée, Leah Brown, are not related to 72-year-old Pont, who sold them the downtown soup and sandwich shop he created and operated on his own for six years. Nor are they French. Starting Monday, the Midtown couple will continue to offer the same gastronomic experience, following in Pont's footsteps as closely as they can. Stoddard describes the food as good, honest French cooking and the place itself as a French cookery. "A cookery is a place where you don't just go to eat food. You go there to meet people and learn about food," he said.

The man once dubbed “The Soup Ami” by local media said goodbye to his loyal customers for the last time at downtown’s La Bonne Soupe Café Friday as he retired from a restaurant career that spanned 55 years and two continents. Daniel Pont, 72, said his retirement is bittersweet, since he loved operating his one-man shop on Eighth Street between I and J streets for the past six years. But he wants to spend time with his family. “I will probably take the next week and just rest,” he said in the small café Friday afternoon while a handful of customers hung around, sharing wine and thanking him for good times. “No driving, no working – just swimming pool, eating and sleeping.” He sold his bu

A clean bill of health and an outpouring of customer support have prompted the reopening of a wildly popular downtown lunch spot, La Bonne Soupe Café. On Wednesday, owner Daniel Pont will resume serving the French onion soup Zagat rated as the best in the world only months ago, as well as the sandwiches and other food that earned his restaurant Zagat's top rating in Sacramento. The cafe passed a Sacramento County health reinspection Friday, nine days after a restaurant inspector closed it upon finding cockroaches. Pont, a renowned 70-year-old French chef, said Tuesday he's recovering from the stress and heartbreak that landed him in the hospital just before the first scheduled reinspect