Robert Barral, co-owner of Café Provence in Brandon, is home from the University of Vermont Medical Center and recovering after a former employee, Jozef I. Eller, allegedly attacked the 71-year-old with a knife in the restaurant on Saturday afternoon. According to the Vermont State Police, Eller, 32,  fled the scene but was arrested later that evening in Rochester. He was ordered jailed without bail on charges of attempted second-degree murder and violating a no-trespassing order. The incident was first reported by Michael Donoghue of Vermont News First. On Sunday, a post on Café Provence's Facebook page thanked supporters. "Chef [Barral] will have a long road of recovery," the post continued. "We anticipate to be back on track at Café Provence this coming week while he recovers at home." Barral and his business partner and former wife, Line Barral, opened Café Provence at 11 Center Street in 2004. The French-born and -trained chef originally moved to Vermont in the late 1980s to teach at the now-closed New England Culinary Institute, where he rose to executive chef. In August 2021, Robert Barral told Seven Days that he and Line had decided to put their three Brandon businesses on the market in order to retire. Those included Café Provence; a bar, event space and teaching classroom called Center Street Bar at 15 Center Street;  and their bakery and wine shop, Gourmet Provence at 37 Center Street. They continued to operate all while seeking buyers. The Barrals sold Gourmet Provence to Carrie and Matt Lewis in June 2023. The Lewises relaunched it as Morningside Bakery in January 2024 after renovations, which included adding a wood-fired pizza oven. Robert Barral has continued to put in long hours at Café Provence cooking its French-accented menu, which includes a local goat cheese salad, escargot with Pernod liqueur and mussels steamed with white wine, along with a local-beef burger and fried calamari. During a 2022 Seven Days interview, the chef-restaurateur said he'd like to be known for "going out of my way to please the guest." And at the top of his list of what he valued, Barral put his long-standing staff… ...read more read less