Premier NYC French Restaurant Lespinasse to Close

The Associated Press ^ | 4/11/03 | The Associated Press

[jimbo123]

NEW YORK (AP) - One of Manhattan's premier French restaurants, Lespinasse, announced it would close next week because of the economic and political climate. The 12-year-old restaurant in the midtown St. Regis Hotel was favored for its sumptuous beige and gold antique decor and prize-winning wine list and cuisine.

Lespinasse was one of six Manhattan restaurants with a four-star rating from The New York Times.

A statement from the owners said the current economic and world political climate made staying open unprofitable. The restaurant will close April 19.

Guenter H. Richter, managing director of the St. Regis, said, "We carried it as long as we could. Any reopening will be determined by the pace of the economic recovery."

There was no indication that the closing was due to anti-French sentiment over France's opposition to the war in Iraq. The city tourism agency, NYC & Company, said some French restaurants have suffered from tense U.S.-French relations, though no formal boycott was evident.

[panaxanax]

If they import French wine & food then they should be boycotted. If it comes from France, it sucks.

[cibco]

"Here's their menu..."

Desert -$15

Some veggie thing -$95

Main course -$135

Give me a good elk steak any day...

[Yankee]

Because it's made with copious quantities of butter and other fats.

I disagree. I love copious quantities of butter and other fats.

It's the French that I can do without.

[Mihalis]

Don't worry, my economics are fine and up to date. You say that ...the money stays here instead...

Now, do you make any sense? These are American businesses we're talking about, that just happen to have a French name. The money stays here anyway.

The French products boycott which we were among the first to advocate here on FR is not intended to hurt everything French. Just the French economy, to the extent possible. You don't want to turn this into a cultural war.

My own approach to the boycott is:

NEVER BUY FRENCH WINES EVER AGAIN.

DO NOT TRAVEL TO FRANCE.

[Yankee]

Or as we say here in New York,

Au revoir, mutha........

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Hmmm... I'm surprised to see the restaurant close. Are things that bad?

"That bad" is a relative term. In an economic downturn you can only support so many restaurants that charge $350 - $400 for a dinner for two. These types of ultra high-end places thrive as a result of 1) Corporate clients, 2) Tourists blowing money on a one-time event and 3) The wealthy. As the tourists and the corporate largesse dry up, there will be a contraction of these types of restaurants. Some can hold out until the next upturn and some can not.

[usmc_chris]

That is absurd. French wine and French cuisine are far superior to the processed, hormone-enriched, bland, pedestrian fare that is all too common here in America. They may be short-sighted in the war on terrorism, but that shouldn't detract from the fact that just about any meal in France is preferable to one that might be served up on this side of the Atlantic.

[Publius6961]

Why don't they try just renaming it La Poulet Jaune?

[finnman69]

A French restaurant in an American city with American workers that pay rent to American landlords and buy food and other supplies from American vendors.

Not too smart.

If you want to boycott France, dont go to France or buy their products. Boycotting a restaurant in the US is stupid.

[mabelkitty]

But much more importantly......

Will Germany straighten their sh== out before this year's Octoberfest??

Warsteiner is good. Back stabbing socialists are bad.

[July 4th]

If more French restaurants that go out of business, more business will be available for non-French restaurants.

Well, gee, that's wonderful. But I could care less if both are owned by Americans.

[panaxanax]

Ninety-Five bucks for a "Warm Beet & Goat Cheese Salad"?

Duh, no wonder they went out of business.

[finnman69]

I suspect they fell victims to high over head and lack of customers. Not surprised that the restaurant 90's craze in NYC with month long waiting lists for so-so new restaurants is over. Now the economics are hitting more established upscale restaurants in NYC as people curtail their dining habits.

[July 4th]

If you want to boycott France, dont go to France or buy their products. Boycotting a restaurant in the US is stupid.

Yeah, some people here today obviously have a bigger ax to grind. They hate the French and their food, regardless of who's making money off of it. Good food is good food, and all the better if I'm paying a US restaurant for it.

[Yankee]

Some people get a "smug superiority hard-on" from overpaying a fortune for a so-called meal that barely covers 1/8 of a dinner plate.

I'll stick with Little Italy thanks.

Lots of good food, resonably priced, and they are actually happy to serve you.

I think the concept just might catch on.

[JustAnAmerican]

"Now, do you make any sense? These are American businesses we're talking about, that just happen to have a French name. The money stays here anyway.

Not really, the bulk of French food is made with French Wine(made in France), which in turn lines the pockets of the Frogs. Most if not all of the wines in a French restaurant are French(again made in France) and the bulk of all monies invested in a French Restaurant are in that little thing called a wine cellar(French wines).

So, in order to boycott the items even you list as boycottable, you must not eat most French foods and all French wines. So rather then go to a restaurant to look at the cooks and wait staff I prefer not to go at all, seeing as how I put America and Americans before France and its products any day.

[jimbo123]

From the NY Times:

Lespinasse
French

Do you have fantasies about living in the time of Louis XIV? This is the place to indulge them. The new chef, Christian Delouvrier, is doing the best cooking of his life, sprinkling truffles and foie gras throughout the menu. The room is stately and quiet and the service incredibly solicitous. The prices? Astronomical. — Ruth Reichl (12/98)

[Southack]

Symbolism is especially important to businesses, who may find it rather risky to take a potential new client out to eat at a French restraunt when other less-politically challenging choices remain available.

[usmc_chris]

No, tumescence is not an issue here. Objectively speaking, French cuisine is superior to most of the fare one encounters in America.

There are plenty of French restaurants that do not charge obscene prices, and I do not believe that the issue at hand is the cost. It is the inability among some members of this board to distinguish between the politics of Jacques Chirac and the glorious French food and wine.

[jimbo123]

Lespinasse ‘European Temple’

Victor Gastoni

Although the cuisine at Lespinasse is classic French, with your first few bites you know that you are in for and exciting and memorable meal. These are flavors so capitavting, so mesmerizing that you may never taste them again, you are eating morsels of food that won’t be forgotten, quietly aggressing, yet deliciously sublme. This is all very fitting, because you are in such beautiful sedate surroundings, in one of the most luxurious dining rooms in New York City. Thick carpet, soft lighting, lovely flowers, a soaring ceiling, creamy guilded columns, chandeliers, luxurious chairs and gorgeous plates. All this makes you feel that you have walked into a 18th century chateau and the impeccable white gloved service makes you feel that you belong there. Lespinasse, now in its 10th year, was named for a french literary patron, and the restaurant overlooks no opportunity to pamper its own patrons. The sky-high prices only seem fitting for this heaven.

And now, let’s turn to the man of the hour, executive chef Christian Delouvrier. His dishes gratify all your senses, always consistent, always delicious, with the best and freshest of ingredients. And it only takes a little imagination to think that you are dining in an epicurean temple.

If at all possible, don’t miss the tasters course, I can’t use enough accolades to describe how distinctive, creative and delicious each entree is.

Pastry chef Patrice Caillot turns out the most exquisite desserts, putting the restaurant with the glitz of the city. The crepe brulee slides sexily into your mouth, its smoothness set off by the little pot of berries at its side, even the petits four are so scrumptious that you savor the taste.

In closing, I can only state that dining at Lespinasse, you are elevated to the highest level of food ambiance and service, that dining elsewhere will be extremely hard to match.

Recommended Dishes: Appetizers- Soft shell crab with rusti potatoes; yellow tomato coules and zorrel; grilled foie crab with oates and lemon marmalade; ragout of gnocchi, morels, favas and black truffles; a cold zuchinin soup with jumbo lumps of crabmeat and fried zucchini flowers.

Main Courses: steamed marinated halibut with zucchini and fenner salad; pan roasted turbot with wild mushrooms and asparagus; split roasted baby mallard duck, dark rum, braised pineapple and black tele cherry pepper; Sauteed veal chop with stuffed artichokes; shoulder of baby lamb, roasted on the spit with natural juice and small fingerlings potatoes (cooked for two); confit baby pig with tarbeis bean cassoulet.

Desserts: creme brulee; baked apple; petits four among others.