Ten years ago, chef Raymond Ost fulfilled a lifelong dream
to open his own restaurant when he and his partner, Gwen Trost, took over a cozy space at 8 Holyoke Street, located just a few hundred feet from the gateway to Harvard University. They decorated the bistro in a warm and charming style reminiscent of Ost’s native Alsace, and named it for Ost’s daughter, Sandrine.

Today, Sandrine’s Bistro celebrates a decade as Cambridge’s most unique and beloved French dining room. Signature dishes like flammekueche (Alsatian pizza), choucroute (a hearty pork and sauerkraut dish typical of Alsace) and kugelhopf (warm chocolate bundt cake) share menu space with French bistro classics like escargot and bouillabaisse, and with modern recipes like duck breast, or weekly vegetarian and pasta specialties. A warm copper bar with a brick oven and a great selection of French wines, a mid-sized room for private parties, superb service, and discounted parking nearby add up to a cornucopia of reasons why Harvard Square has embraced Sandrine’s Bistro since 1996.

Ost brings international flair to Harvard Square as chef of one of the area’s most unique and respected restaurants. Ost’s career in French cooking spans more than 35 years, so patrons can expect food with confidence, finesse and flavor, and that is exactly what he delivers, night after night.

Born in the Alsatian town of Strasbourg, on the French-German border, Ost learned to cook at his mother’s side, and began pursuing a career in the food industry while still in his teens. He cooked fulltime while earning a degree from the Ecole Hoteliere, and never looked back.

In 1977, Ost was recruited by Le Meridien Hotels and was posted in kitchens from Martinique to Abu Dabai to San Francisco. In 1988, he was named Executive Chef of Le Meridien Boston, where he oversaw its award-wining Julien rstaurant, as well as a cafe and catering/pastry operations. He thrived on the responsibility and managed an annual budget of $10M.

During his tenure, the hotel and Ost received many national accolades, but the opportunity to own his own bistro called to him. Sandrine’s, named for Ost’s daughter, opened to much acclaim in 1996, and Ost remains an amiable and omnipresent figure in his charming Holyoke Street empire.

Like Chef Ost, Trost traces her interest in the restaurant world to her late teens, where a banquet waitressing job “hooked” her as she studied hotel/restaurant management at Penn State. She worked respectively for such hospitality giants as Radisson, Marriott and Le Meridien.

At Le Meridien Boston, where Gwen served as wedding manager in 1993, she met Raymond Ost, and within three years became convinced that the two could create a unique restaurant together. Her impeccable taste and design sense have resulted in a warm, welcoming room that is informal yet elegant; simple yet stylish. In season, Gwen also provides a bounty of home grown fruits and vegetables (quince, lettuces, beets, heirloom tomatoes, kiwi) for Sandrine’s kitchen, from her Rhode Island garden.