Cafe Boulud, the beloved French-American mecca for global power brokers and uptown food-lovers, is back in a new location after four years. It’s the best news north of Bloomingdale’s since the opening of the 100-years-late Q train.
And, it happened because some medical gear didn’t fit into the restaurant’s corner space at Park Avenue and East 63rd Street.
After Cafe Boulud ended its twenty-five year run on East 76th Street in 2020, when the Surrey Hotel closed, chef-owner Daniel Boulud scoured the neighborhood for a new home.
“But there are not many locations that are available,” Boulud said. The “Cafe” was close to his heart as a successor to his great-grandparents’ place of the same name outside Lyon, France.
If the chef’s great flagship, Restaurant Daniel, was the queen of his global realm, more casual Cafe Boulud was its proud princess with its own loyal following. Clientele included Kim Kardashian, real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman, Michael Douglas, Barbara Walters, Billy Joel, World Trade Center architect David Childs and scores of other A-listers, as well as non-billionaire locals who were drawn by its welcoming-to-all vibe.
Its absence left a void for all who missed its menu, which is famously divided into four categories or “muses,” as Boulud calls them. There’s “La Tradition,” “La Saison,” “Le Potager” and globe-roaming “Le Voyage,” which Boulud and his first head chef, Andrew Carmellini, introduced in 1998.
Just when Boulud was ready to give up on finding a new location, 575 Park Avenue, a prewar co-op with a proud restaurant history, popped into the picture.
It’s the ground-floor corner at 100 E. 63rd St. was previously home to Le Perigord Park, Park Avenue Cafe (for twenty years) and most recently to Vaucluse, Michael White’s fine French place that closed early in the pandemic.
Sebastien Silvestri, the CEO of Boulud’s Dinex Group since 2019, happened to live upstairs in the building. He and Boulud admired the space. But with restaurant deals scarce in pandemic-chilled 2021, the co-op board planned to rent the corner to a medical imaging clinic.
“But their equipment didn’t fit right,” Silvestri said with a chuckle. “I’m in my apartment and I get a notification from the board that they need to find a new tenant.”
He acted quickly to connect board members with Boulud. “They were excited about the possibility of having Daniel,” Silvestri recalled.
Cafe Boulud, which opened two weeks ago, doesn’t resemble the clubby original, but Jeffrey Beers International’s design recaptured its privileged-but-cozy quality in an airier, more opulent setting with a higher ceiling.
The 80-seat, jewel-box dining room boasts pleated, green velvet banquettes; beveled mirrors and bronze, copper and stone trim. The floor is composed of the original black-and-white tile and varnished wood.
Tall windows admit light on two sides in contrast to the original’s small windows. The only off-note is thumping “music” that grates like sandpaper and was mistaken by one guest for the subway underneath. Silvestri said it’s under review.
Romain Paumier, who was Restaurant Daniel’s executive sous-chef, is the Cafe’s executive chef, joined by pastry chef Katalina Diaz, who was pastry executive sous chef at Restaurant Daniel. Regional manager Karim Guedouar, who oversees Restaurant Daniel, shuttles between the two spots. “I have an easy commute,” he chuckled of the three-block walk.
The prix-fixe-only menu is $95 for two courses or $125 for three courses.
After a few near-misses in the first nights, the kitchen found its groove this week with classic, crispy potato-wrapped black sea bass in red wine sauce (from “Le Tradition”); Thai-inspired, pitch-perfect crab tom kha (“Voyage”) and red kabacha and chestnut risotto (“Le Portager”).
Presentations are arresting. Even simple-sounding, luscious duck foie gras terrine came topped with an eye-grabbing, snaky gelee of chicken jus and Port wine.
Boulud opened the place with France’s Barnes International Realty. They’ll launch Maison Barnes, an adjoining funhouse combining a bar, dining salon, private dining rooms, a speakeasy and a wine cellar table in two months.
Cafe Boulud has already drawn the likes of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg (twice) and Martha Stewart, though other swells have yet to return from holiday travels. Tables are hard to come by after 5:30 p.m.
So book ahead now, before the wandering elites reclaim their velvet-cushioned noshing ground.