| Le Coucou | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 2016 |
| Owner(s) | Stephen Starr |
| Chef | Daniel Rose |
| Rating |  Michelin Guide |
| Street address | 138 Lafayette Street |
| City | Manhattan, New York City |
| State | New York |
| Postal/ZIP Code | 10013 |
| Coordinates | 40°43′9″N74°0′0.5″W / 40.71917°N 74.000139°W |
Le Coucou is a French restaurant in New York City which opened in 2016. The restaurant's chef is Daniel Rose and Stephen Starr is the owner. The restaurant is located in 11 Howard, a hotel.
Before beginning Le Coucou, Rose was a chef in Paris at his own restaurant, Spring. [1] Rose continued to operate Spring after founding Le Coucou. [2] Before formally partnering with Starr, Rose worked briefly in the kitchen of Starr's restaurant Buddakan. [1] Rose has a reputation as a "cerebral" chef, in contrast to Starr's "mass-appeal" restaurants. [1] However, Rose found Starr's existing roster of restaurants comforting as a source of support for Le Coucou. [1]
The restaurant opened in June 2016. [3] Roman and Williams designed the restaurant's interior. [4] The décor includes a mural by artist Dean Barger, inspired by the works of French painter Hubert Robert. [4]
The restaurant was closed for over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] It reopened in November 2021. [6] Four months were spent preparing for the reopening. [7] Though Le Coucou serves primarily French food, the reworked menu included dishes based on recipes from Spain and Portugal. [7] Rose has said these were included "to give people a sense that there’s a big wide world out there, even while travel is still a bit curtailed" [7] due to the pandemic.
Anna Sorokin ate at the restaurant frequently while living in 11 Howard. [8]
Rose has said the closed New York City French restaurant Lutèce inspired the menu at Le Coucou. [2]
The restaurant received three stars from New York Times reviewer Pete Wells. [2] Wells praised the restaurant's ability to downplay the intimidating aspects of haute cuisine while maintaining a sense of formality, writing that the restaurant has "an elegance that is well outside the everyday rumble of New York life but that doesn’t have...the off-putting reserve...from the old days." [2] When comparing the restaurant to New York City French mainstay La Grenouille, Wells wrote that Le Coucou was superior in the quality of its food, service, and wine list. [2]
Pete Wells placed Le Coucou in fifty-eighth place in his 2023 ranking of the hundred best restaurants in New York City. [9]
The restaurant won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant in 2017. [10]
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