Amicable split for Georis brothers behind Casanova, La Bicyclette.

At the tail end of 2014 something happened that hasn't for 30 years of Monterey County restaurants.

Carmel landmark Casanova closed for more than two days.

The closure came around Christmas, for a modest update featuring new paint and equipment. 

With it comes news of another unprecedented event.

The brothers behind the popular restaurant and sister spot La Bicyclette are dividing up their businesses.

Their rise from immigrant Birkenstock salesmen and guitar surf bums to star restauranteurs is the stuff of local legend. 

Now, as their families grow larger and a partnership grows more unwieldy, Gaston and Walter Georis want to provide their offspring (and apparent heirs) more flexibility and self-determination.

Gaston will direct La Bicyclette on his own, with some input from his son Gabe, who owns Mundaka and Barmel.

Walter, fresh off a profile from the San Francisco Chronicle's Meredith May (which came with a triple review of his restaurants by Michael Bauer), will take over Casanova, though each brother will retain one of the two properties it sits on.

Walter's son Klaus chefs at Casanova; reliable sources tell me he's eager to nudge things in a more modernist direction.

Walter also owns Corkscrew Bistro, Cowgirl Winery and Georis Winery, which are all situated within a barrel's roll of one another in Carmel Valley.

The brothers still swap stories and ideas regularly, as they always have.

Meanwhile, the family instincts remain strong.

Gaston's newest grandkid Charlie (of Gabe and Mandy Georis), even though he's not tall enough to reach the stove, likes being in one place more than anywhere else: In the kitchen helping dad make dinner.