Lyon’s interior takes inspiration from cozy, family-run French bouchons. (Tamara Beckwith)
Coquilles St. Jacques can be paired with a “Pot Lyonnais” of wine. (Tamara Beckwith)
There was no shortage of Chanel bags and perfectly coiffed hair on Tuesday night at Lyon, the just-opened West Village restaurant from François Latapie, a former partner at Madison Avenue’s erstwhile clubhouse La Goulue. When that storied boite closed last year, it left countless ladies who lunch in the lurch.
Among the former La Goulue regulars who had made the trip way downtown to Greenwich Avenue: Celebrity stylist Montgomery Frazier, socialite Marlyne Sexton and her daughter Nicole, and Linda Fargo, vice president at Bergdorf Goodman, where she heads women’s fashion and store presentation.
“I feel like Upper East Side restaurateurs are really starting to turn their attention downtown now, and I think that reflects [the fact] that people like more of a casual [setting],” says Fargo, looking effortlessly chic as she cools her heels at the bar.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that Fargo would mind a new spot closer to home.
“I want someone to open near Sutton Place!” she laughs.
Others, however, were happy to have a new downtown distraction.
“Now I have another destination place,” enthuses Frazier, who shows up with UES art dealer Island Weiss. Now that Frazier no longer has La Goulue for a “living room,” he counts The Boom Boom Room, The Breslin and The Lion among his home-away-from-home hangouts. “If it’s too easy to get into, then it’s not where I want to be,” he explains.
Modeled after a bouchon — the kind of rustic, family-run eatery particular to Lyon, France — the new restaurant has transformed the former Café de Bruxelles into a cozy, oak-paneled setting for slumming uptowners and fashionable downtowners alike. Yes, they will take reservations in the back room, outfitted with vintage maps and leather banquettes, but walk-ins will be welcome in the bar and cafe areas.
“Unlike some New Yorkers, I don’t divide New York,” says Latapie.
“For me, it’s hard to say that downtown is better or uptown is better — everything has a charm.”
Friends like Fargo describe Latapie as a “bon vivant cook,” and his passion for wine is well-known. At La Goulue, he hosted fabulous wine dinners, including one that re-created the menu served to first-class passengers on the Titanic, recalls Graham Head, vice chairman of ABC Carpet, who had joined attorney Paul H. Maloney IV at a wooden booth in the restaurant’s cafe.
Latapie and partner Penny Bradley made two trips to Lyon, France, this year to research their restaurant, bringing along chef Chris Leahy on their last visit, where they dined at many of the city’s traditional bouchons.
While typical bouchon dishes might include modest ingredients like offal, sausage and stew meats, the menu at Lyon has a bit more cosmopolitan polish. Think an entree of sautéed diver scallops with roasted fingerling potatoes and delicious “sauce charcuterie” made from smoked prosciutto, cornichons and Dijon buerre blanc ($20).
Chilled local wines such as Beaujolais are another bouchon hallmark. At Lyon, you’ll find the traditional serving vessel called a “Pot Lyonnais” (the equivalent of about two-thirds of a bottle), as well as a wine list that includes American bottles.
Latapie, for one, says he is more concerned with substance than scene.
“For many years, people accused me of being a snob, attending only to ladies who were wearing Chanel. We were much more than that [at La Goulue] — we got a Michelin star [and] it was not because of Chanel and Graff diamonds,” he says.
“I am not counting on my Upper East Side past to fill this restaurant,” he continues.
“I’m counting on my past to achieve a very beautiful result, with good food and good service. I think if you do that, people will come. It’s not [about] the geography anymore.”