Fleur de Sel ("Flower of salt" in French) is a hand-harvested sea salt collected by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans. Traditional French fleur de sel is collected off the coast of Brittany and also Camargue, and is slightly grey due to the sandy minerals collected in the process of harvesting the salt from the pans. Fleur de sel is one of most expensive salts in the world and is usually sold in jars as it is slightly damp.

Laurent Zirotti grew up in France influenced by the cooking of his French mother and Italian grandmother. At age 15 he began a three-year program at Thonon-les-Bains, a prestigious hotel and catering school in the French Alps. Following this apprenticeship he moved to Nice on the Riviera, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in the Hospitality Industry.

Laurent and Patricia met at the Hotel Management School in Nice then spent some time in San Francisco and Billings before returning to the Riviera to raise their family. Upon their return to France, Laurent became banqueting manager at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. He was then promoted catering manager for the Palais and for the Palm Beach, and finished his journey in the groupe Lucien Barriere as deputy general manager at the famous palace "Hotel Majestic” in Cannes. Patricia worked as special event coordinator for the consulting company, Accenture.

The family moved to Billings in 1998 to open Enzo Mediterranean Bistro and serve as the general manager. After a successful ten years, the Zirotti’s left Billings this summer to begin a new adventure; opening their own restaurant, Fleur de Sel, at the Highlands Day Spa in Post Falls.

The restaurant will focus on a neighborhood atmosphere, fresh local produce and regional bistro French cooking as well as Northern Italian dishes from the Piedmont, where Laurent’s family is from.

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