Five Things to Know About the Rebirth of Café Boulud in New York

1. Boulud always wanted to bring Café Boulud back to New York City.

While Café Boulud now has locations across the world — Miami, Toronto, the Bahamas, and soon, Beverly Hills — its first iteration as we know it today opened in New York 25 years ago in 1998.

However, the restaurant’s history stretches back even further than that; the original Café Boulud opened more than 100 years ago, as a restaurant run by Boulud’s great-grandparents on their family farm outside of Lyon, France.

New York’s Café Boulud has remained a beloved part of the city for the entirety of its life, which came to an end only when the Surrey Hotel where it was located in went bankrupt in 2021.

“I was ready to reopen, but during COVID that was not possible. It was high on my mind to bring it back to New York City,” Boulud says.

In comparison to Boulud’s other New York City restaurants, like Restaurant Daniel, Café Boulud has always taken a more casual approach to fine dining, something that he says has helped it stand the test of time.

“It’s the place that you can come to without a reservation. It’s about entertaining. All of my restaurants are without pretension; we care about what we do,” Boulud adds. The longevity of the restaurant’s appeal is just as present today.

“What I love about Café Boulud is the generational appeal. There were people who came [to the original] as kids who are now in their 20s, 30s, and 40s and will come again,” he says. “We not only made a generation of customers, but there is an entire new generation that will come and have nostalgia for the space.”

2. The address has changed, but the inside echoes the old one.

Inside the new Café Boulud, now located on 63rd Street, you’ll find vaulted high ceilings, plush banquets, and plenty of windows. Even this new location itself holds memories for Boulud, too, who used to eat there when it was Le Périgord, when he was young and just beginning his career.

Designed by Jeffrey Beers International, the space has a vintage feel with its original black-and-white tile and varnished wood flooring, and an extensive art program with rotating selections from European artists. All of the details echo the original location, which also boasted velvet banquets and mirrored walls.

The overall effect is quite similar to the Café Boulud of old.

“I can imagine watching all the leaves through the windows,” Boulud says. “It’s so beautiful and it’s the perfect size. It feels comfortable. It feels inviting, warm, and casual at the same time.”

3. The menu is built to evolve and delight.

As it was before, the menu at Café Boulud is split into four distinct sections. There is la tradition, or French classics, la saison, for seasonal dishes, le potager, for vegetables and farmer’s market ingredients, and le voyage, for a cuisine from around the world.

Right now, le voyage is focused on Thai cuisine, inspired and informed by the background of sous chef Kevin Inocencio, who grew up in Malaysia and spent years cooking in Thailand.

There’s a Peekytoe crab tom kha soup, almost “bisque” like in consistency, Boulud says, as well as pork Chiang Mai two ways, with pork belly and tenderloin alongside red curry jus, and hor mok, shrimp dumplings with minted cucumber ajad and peanuts.

“As someone French I can definitely cook French cuisine, but I like to flirt with other flavors and techniques. I’ve been in New York for four decades. As hard ‘French’ as I am, I want to make sure that I also enjoy cooking with great aspiration and technique that belongs more [uniquely] to America,” Boulud says.

Menu classics include glazed sweetbreads “dubarry,” and black sea bass “en paupiette.” “That [sea bass] dish is almost 35 years old,” Boulud says. “It’s as loved and popular as yesterday.”

Leading the kitchen is executive chef Romain Paumier, who was most recently the executive sous chef at Restaurant Daniel and who also served as sous chef at the first Café Boulud New York before it closed. On the pastry side of things is executive pastry chef Katalina Diaz, who was previously the pastry executive sous chef at Restaurant Daniel.

Desserts, like the savory menu, are split into those four distinct sections, and highlights include a “baked” Mont Blanc with chestnut ice cream, ginger sorbet, vermicelli, and Swiss meringue, and Nam Kang Sai, made with makrut lime-infused pineapple, Thai basil granita, red bean jellies, and condensed milk foam.

Wines still run classic, with plenty of French and Italian selections among the 350-plus deep list. And cocktails will change seasonally, largely inspired by classics as well.

4. But wait, there’s more.

The neighborhood will receive yet another Daniel Boulud establishment soon, with the opening of Maison BARNES early next year. Located inside the same building as Café Boulud, it’s comprised of small salons and private rooms for dining, as well as a speakeasy and wine cellar, and it’s meant to feel more like a private home. The space will also host a variety of pop-ups, collaborations, and cultural programs, too. And the menu here will be French, but distinctly different from that of Café Boulud’s.

“We hope it will complement the destination here [at Café Boulud],” Boulud says.

5. Boulud’s passion for French cooking is unwavering.

As we’ve noted before, New York City is currently experiencing a renewed love affair with French dining, with the success of bistros like Libertine and Café Chelsea, something that Boulud says makes perfect sense to him.

“There is a certain rhythm with the seasons [with French cuisine], a balance of the composition of the food that I think for the most part is healthy. It’s tasty and there’s this excellence of the ingredients, technique, and application,” he notes. If he had been born Italian, he says, perhaps he would have cooked Italian food.

But, he adds, “It’s never been a trend for me. It has always been my life.”

Café Boulud is open Monday through Saturday for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday for brunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Lunch service will commence early next year.

Ellie Plass is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter. Follow Resy, too.