Le Périgord Review – Experience and Appreciate French Classics.

Le Périgord Reins as NY’s Grand Dame of Luxury French Restaurants

Beef Wellington Burger at Le Perigord

This ain’t no patty: it’s a classic reinvented for one of the city’s most unique burgers

The most elegant burger in town since the db burger–that foie gras and truffle-stuffed delicacy served at Daniel Boulud’s  DB Bistro Moderne–is delivered with a knife and fork, by a waiter wearing a tuxedo.

Beef Wellington burger Le Perigord

Le Perigord’s just-launched beef Wellington burger ($18) transforms one classic dish into another. Executive chef Joel Benjamin mixes the beef, a lean prime chuck from Gachot & Gachot (also the favorite purveyors of Peter Luger), with clarified fat of foie gras, sautéed shallots, and a mix of oyster, porcini and shiitake mushrooms. The beef blend is then seared to seal in the juices. In lieu of a bun, Benjamin surrounds the meat with puff pastry, then bakes the dish until the meat is medium rare and the pastry a flaky golden brown. Served with rich truffle jus and haricot vert, the result is a succulent, luxurious, retro-meets-modern indulgence.

The burger, which was added to the a la carte lunch and dinner menu just last week, marks a landmark for the restaurant: This is the first time in Le Perigord’s 49-year history that one has appeared on the menu. Known for its classic French cooking, dignified service and table-side presentations, it may take some time for some of Le Perigord’s regulars to get used to the new addition, offered alongside signature dishes such as Dover sole meuniere ($50). No doubt, however, this burger is poised to win a new breed of loyalists on its own.

Le Perigord, 405 E. 52nd St., New York, NY
For reservations, call 212-755-6244, or book a table online ››

Posted by laylakhouryhanold on May 20, 2013

Desserts at the 48-year-old French restaurant, Le Périgord. Photo: Evan Sung

Great Dining Experiences

Froufrouless French

Hot and trendy restaurants are no doubt a part of the NYC dining palate, but there is much to say for the tried and true. Le Périgord, a 48-year-old French restaurant on Manhattan’s East Side, meets the definition of haute cuisine, minus the stuffiness. Despite the gracious formality, the dining room has an open, airy feel, with pale gold walls, elegantly framed sketches of Parisian scenes and pristine white tablecloths. Le Périgord offers both an à la carte (roasted rack of lamb, Dover sole, beef Wellington) and a prix fixe menu (with more than a dozen entrées to choose from). And those desserts (left)! Floating islands, tartes Tatin: Let them eat cake, indeed.

» Le Périgord, 405 E. 52nd St., 212.755.6244

by Christopher Carpenter

Open since 1964, Le Périgord has been host to movie stars across the ages from Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Visiting members of the UN, faithful regulars, and French food enthusiasts have kept Georges busy for nearly 50 years.

“How’s the beef bourguignon?” It was lunchtime on a Wednesday at Le Périgord and a half-empty glass of white wine was sitting next to a very full glass of red wine, above a white china bowl of meaty brown stew; its aroma wafting up in nearly visible tendrils. Owner Georges Briguet continued: “If you want to make this bourguignon, first you go to a butcher and ask him for a cut to make a beef stew. He’ll give you the shoulder, the chuck of the shoulder.” He went on to give cooking instructions, which included braising the beef, adding turnips, carrots, celery, potato, onions, 2-3 glasses of red wine, and a little salt before a low and slow period in the oven of about 2-3 hours. “The beef is the key…If it’s the right cut, it will do all the work for you.” He had barely finished this oration when a large constituency of Uruguayan diplomats stopped in, presumably taking a break from the nearby United Nations HQ, for lunch. Georges greeted them formally, made his rounds throughout the dining room, and sat back down to chat a bit longer about his restaurant, Le Périgord, one of the oldest and best French restaurants in New York City.

Q. How has Le Périgord evolved over these last few decades and changed?

GB: The big change, the first that comes to mind, is one that I’m actually not too happy about. The dress code. For a great many years when people came to a fine restaurant, a French restaurant with a white tablecloth, every man had a jacket and tie on. We wouldn’t even let anyone into the restaurant unless they were properly dressed. Years ago we would never have let anyone come in wearing blue jeans or shorts. If they would have been dressed that way, back then, the chef would not have cooked for them. Then about ten, or maybe 12 years ago, we relaxed the rule. The new generation came around, my children included, and for some reason they just don’t understand the art of fine dining.

Q. Has the cuisine at Le Périgord changed very much with the times?   

GB: Yes and no. The food here is food like in France, and by that I mean, what they serve in France today is what we serve at Le Périgord. Our chef was born, raised, and trained in France. He was trained in Brittany and for part of his career he worked at Lutèce, which was one of the most famous restaurants in New York, if not the world. When it closed in 2004, he came to Le Périgord and he’s been here ever since. French children are raised in the kitchen, cooking with their mother. I think it is much, much easier for a French-born young person to be a good chef than it is for people in many other cultures. I learned so much in the kitchen with my mother, but I never cooked professionally. In the kitchen I couldn’t see all of those beautiful women in the dining room.

Q. I saw the a wide range of dishes as I entered; can you talk about the mealtime service?

GB: Our cooking here is simple, elegant, classical French and our guests see food the whole time—when they walk in they see the first-course options: Canadian lobster with coriander sauce, shrimp, asparagus, celery remoulade, and the ‘famous’ artichokes. Then once they are seated, the waiter takes their order and brings them whatever they wish. They select their entrée, and wine (if they wish) and dessert is served on the “Temptation Wagon.” [The temptation wagon rolls closer.] Today we’ve got blueberry tart, apple tart tatin, chocolate mousse, chocolate mousse cake. It is known all over the country. In fact, that Temptation Wagon is why we were so successful when we opened back in 1964.

Q. Do you select all of the wines yourself?  

GB: I was born in a vineyard. My parents made their living growing grapes in the Rhone Valley, so to me wine is like a way of life, and I order all of the wine that we serve in the restaurant. I taste all of them, I price all of them, and because I do that personally I can keep the prices on my wine list very reasonable. Sometimes I make more on the food than the wine. In many cases, people will see a bottle they know, and when they’re finished they’ll order a second bottle. If you are too greedy with the price of wine people are hesitant to order even one bottle; they might only order one glass.

Q. What are your favorite places to eat in France?  

GB: In France, like in America, my favorite place is my home. My wife is a fantastic cook, she was born in France and her mother was a great chef as well. In France, as in New York, you can get amazing, fresh ingredients and baked goods at the markets, and that’s what my wife does when we are in France. She goes shopping for the food that we’re going to eat that night and then she cooks it. I’m always here in the restaurant, and I’m always around people, so when I take time off or when I travel, I enjoy a little solitude.

Le Périgord

405 East 52nd Street

212.755.6244, LePerigord.com

You know when you’re young and you walk into an expensive home, preferably owned by an adult, and immediately feel like you don’t belong there? That’s kind of how I felt at Le Perigord; the restaurant looks very exclusive from the outside – white curtains in the windows prevent from seeing inside, and once you’re actually inside you are transported back to 1964, when the establishment was first built. The old New York feel, the UES crowd, the waiters in tuxes – all very old school to me. The best part about Le Perigord though, in my humble opinion, is the service. We were greeted warmly at the door, taken to our cozy corner table (perfect spot for people watching) and offered a glass of wine or champagne while we browsed the menu. So far so good (and when was the last time someone offered you champagne upon arrival?) The menu at Le Perigord doesn’t have prices on it – that’s how you know you’re in for it. But hey, go big or go home, right? And so, we did.

Smooth and rich

I can’t avoid lobster bisque when I see it on a menu – I just can’t. And anytime I go to a French restaurant I feel it’s necessary to order everything that sounds rich and decadent (read: butter, cheese, puff pastry), so naturally we got the vegetable tart, the scallops with vegetable risotto, and the smoked salmon and corn muffin with sour cream. The lobster bisque was very tasty, but different than what I’m used to; there were no chunks of lobster in it, and the broth was a light brown as opposed to the pinkish hue I usually see. It was salty and rich – if I had to finish the whole thing I might have swelled up like a puffer fish and fallen asleep.

delectable vegetables

The vegetable tart was probably the most deceiving dish; for something that was basically butter and cheese in a flaky crust with some julienned vegetables running through it, it was light and delicious. I could eat a vegetable tart like that every day – I wouldn’t, due to my arteries, but it would be nice if I could.

beautiful and delicious scallops

When life hands you rice, make risotto. I know that’s not the real saying, but it should be. There is nothing wrong with risotto. NOTHING. Ok? It’s just one of the most delicious starches out there and I don’t much care for anyone who disagrees. The scallops with vegetable risotto were light, perfectly cooked, and the risotto was oh-so-creamy. There was a drizzle of deep green olive oil at the bottom that added a richness to the dish…just wonderful.

A+ for presentation, but too salty…

Unfortunately our last appetizer left a bit of a salty taste in our mouths. Ok, a very salty taste. I love salt, but the house-smoked salmon with corn muffin, sour cream and salmon caviar was too much. They sprinkle the dish with onions and capers when it arrives at your table (nice touch), so I had really high hopes for it, but the corn muffin was dry, and like I said, the salmon was just way too salty.

I didn’t realize this at the time, but our entree choices were kind of a play on surf and turf: lobster in coriander broth, and beef Wellington. I rarely see beef Wellington on a menu anymore (there’s that old school style creeping in!), but I’ve always liked it, so for the sake of nostalgia, I had to go with it. The lobster was the winner of the evening; wonderfully tender and the broth for dipping was a perfect finishing touch. The beef Wellington on the other hand, was a bit rare for my taste. I like my beef cooked medium-medium rare, depending on the cut. For those of you who don’t know, beef Wellington is a piece of filet mignon topped with mushroom duxelles (more on that here), and then wrapped in puff pastry. RICH RICH RICH. It’s a classic, but you don’t see it in a lot of places anymore. The beef was very tender, but I felt a little like a mountain lion chewing on a carcass – a few more degrees and it would have been perfect.

perfect

pretty but too rare (can’t tell here, but trust me)

Speaking of perfect…let’s talk about souffles. Chocolate souffle. Grand Marnier souffle. Souffles everywhere. The waiter asked us in the beginning of the meal if we would like to preorder souffles for dessert. The answer to that question is always yes, just so you know. A souffle is basically a flavor base (in this case chocolate and Grand Marnier), combined with egg yolks and egg whites to make it puff up when it’s baked. It will usually fall after a few minutes once it comes out of the oven, but then it’s just a ramekin full of gooey fluffy deliciousness. You need this in your life.

DROOL.

Grand Marnier souffle..amazing

If you’re feeling like having a taste of old New York, and you don’t mind splurging a little, then Le Perigord should be on your list of places to go. Would it be at the top of my list? No, but it would definitely be on there, if only for the lobster and the souffles.

Le Perigord

405 East 52nd St (between 1st and Sutton Pl)

212-755-6244

This is the latest edition of Who Goes There? a regular feature in which Lost City’s Brooks of Sheffield cracks the doors on mysteriously enduring Gotham restaurants—unsung, curious neighborhood mainstays with the dusty, forgotten, determined look—to learn secrets of longevity and find out, who goes there.

Something about the padded, sequestered interior of Le Périgord, the French haute cuisine holdout on east-east-east 52nd Street, turns people into librarians. Nobody at a typical lunch shift at this nearly 50-year-old restaurant talked much above a whisper. And yet the air—which smelled vaguely of your grandmother’s living room—is so still (no music inside, no traffic outside) you could clearly hear conversations a few tables away.

“You go to this restaurant to feel like a human being,” said a man to his friend. I pegged the speaker being in his late 50s, but later realized that he was a well-preserved septuagenarian. No one in the room, waiter or patron, was under 40. When a pair a twentysomethings came in later, they were so befuddled by the unfamiliar scene of relaxed gentility that they seated themselves, thinking that was OK. The maître d’ soon resituated them.

Le Périgord is still owned by Georges Briguet, who bought the place from the original owner two years after the restaurant opened. Without too much mental effort, one can guess the sort of celebrity that came here once upon a time. Truman Capote, Henry Kissinger, Jackie Kennedy, etc. Plus, a regular salting of nearby UN officials. And, of course, your run-of-the-mill, blue-suited moneybags who thinks Kissinger wasn’t so bad, and Capote was mean to write that stuff about Babe Paley in Answered Prayers.

My relatively talkative neighbor was certainly a regular—so regular that he asked whether a favored lamb dish that wasn’t on the menu was available. It was. “Well, why don’t you put it on the damn menu then?” he muttered as the waiter walked away. (Just because the customers look polished doesn’t mean they are. My friend dropped an F bomb every other sentence, and talked with great relish about past trysts.) “I have some friends coming into town and they asked for restaurant recommendations,” he told his more docile friend. “I thought of sending them here, but thought they might think it too dull. So I told them to go to Le Grenouille.”

[Bess Adler]

I took my neighbor’s tip and ordered the wonderful Le Buffet Froid—a delicious selection of chilled asparagus, celery, cheese, pâté, cornichons, shrimp, tomato and other tidbits. Almost a meal in itself, it was sublimely satisfying. I followed that with Sole Meunière, grilled with a mustard sauce. Hey, if I’m in a place like this, I’m going to order a dish like that. It was worth the $45 just to watch the waiter expertly bone the fish tableside. Where does that happen anymore in Manhattan? Plus, the fillet was delectable; the veggies perfectly steamed. There was a dessert trolley—of course there was!—but I passed. The espresso was expert.

My neighbor had moved on to the topic of money. Actually, he seldom left it. Most conversations at Le Périgord are about money or old times. The two men reminisced about sitting on stoops in Brooklyn back in the days when they had no scratch. Recently, the guy’s house was reappraised at a value of $4 million. He seemed to be in the art game. “25 years ago, I could have told anybody I knew how to get rich. You buy a Hopper etching for $500. Today, it would be worth $150,000.” He laughed. “Why didn’t I do that, and make myself rich?”

His friend paused briefly over his pâté. “But, you did,” he replied.

—Brooks of Sheffield

[Bess Adler]

Le Perigord: 405 East 52nd Street – Sutton Place - If you are in the mood for classic New York, Le Perigord is your choice. Their 3-course prix-fixe menu ($65/pp) includes dishes such as lobster bisque, warm foie gras with seasonal fruit, filet of sea bass with creamy country mustard sauce, Dover sole with lemon butter meuniere sauce or grilled with mustard, and a roasted rack of lamb with fresh thyme crust.