The Le Marais Story
In 1995, Jose de Meirelles and Philippe Lajaunie were partners of a very popular French brasserie on Park Avenue called Les Halles. At that time, Philippe had opened a restaurant in the Paramount Hotel and was having some legal wrangles with the legendary hotelier Ian Shrager. During his frequent meetings with his lawyers, they were needling Philippe to open a restaurant similar to Les Halles, but kosher. Jose’s initial reaction was, “Are you kidding?!” (For what it worth, my initial reaction also) “How could I operate a French restaurant without cheese, shellfish and butter for finishing sauces? Pork!!!!” Not to mention, from a business perspective, closing on a Friday and Saturday was pure death. And let’s face it, kosher meat didn’t exactly have the best reputation. Yet the lawyers were very persuasive and assured Jose that finances wouldn’t be a problem when it came to funding a project such as this. Find the space, and the money will be an afterthought. FYI, when someone tells you money is no issue, be sure that it will be. Of course, it was. One backer fell out completely and the other put together a business proposal that would leave Jose and Philippe working for them for the next ten years with little to show for it. No matter, Jose and Philippe powered on. They felt strongly enough about the success of the project, that they took the cash flow from Les Halles and made it work on their own. A huge gamble on the unknown. No risk, no reward.
Le Marais, the literal translation of which is the marsh or swamp, is a district of Paris on the right side of the Seine River. It is known not only for its population of artists, but for its strong Jewish community. Now that a name was chosen, a location soon followed. But those were the easy parts. The next challenge was learning the rules behind kosher cooking and more importantly, getting to understand the differences between the needs of a kosher guest and a non-kosher guest. As Jose found out right away, there really wasn’t any difference. Kosher guests came into the restaurant demanding the same thing that all restaurant customers demanded: the best quality product and reliable service, all at a reasonable price. This is what a Jose did well for his whole career, why would now be any different. He made sure that all of the steaks that left the kitchen were never fresh, but always aged. So when your mom comes in and asks, “is it fresh?” we proudly say no. The cuts that could hold up to dry aging were aged for four weeks and the others were wet aged for the same period. Suddenly, being an observant Jew no longer meant having to put up with chewy meat and sub-par food. So, Jose and his butcher got their mitts on a prime rib, looked it over, and then came up with an idea. Why not remove the cap of the Ribeye and then use the center as a kosher version of a fillet (our “Tournedos”). Now being left with the beef cap, they grilled that off and to their surprise - a great steak! Thus came the name “La Surprise.” Le Marais also had to specialize in the classic French dishes that we all loved. Beef Bourguignon, Coq au Vin, Duck Confit, house made fresh and dry sausages, as well as pâtés and rillettes from the butcher shop. Jose’s culinary plan for the world domination of kosher food along with a primo location in the heart of Times Square hummed along just as they had hoped it would. Then in 2004, Jose and Philippe dissolved their partnership, with Philippe keeping Les Halles and Jose staying with Le Marais.
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there’s more to kosher than pastrami
However, something was missing. A spark, a talent, an obnoxious yet handsome chef of whom can wrangle a motley crew of a staff and put them on the right track to greatness. (Can you guess who’s writing this?) I really want to paint a romantic story of how I got involved, but there just isn’t one. At the time I was the Executive Chef of another kosher restaurant in NYC by the name of Levana. I wasn’t thrilled with my situation and began poking around the city to see what was available. I responded to an ad in the New York Times and sent in a résumé. Usually a massive waste of time, yet, 10 minutes after faxing it out, the phone rang. I spoke with Patricia Thieffery, the real boss of Le Marais, sorry Jose, whom I now refer to as mommy, to set up an interview. I met with Jose twice, and that was that. I started on Monday. And as they say, the rest is history. I do have lots more to say on the subject, but I need to save something for the next book. Tentatively titled Shabbos Goy. Possibly Tuesdays With Moishe, we’ll see.
Mark Hennessey
Executive Chef, Le Marais
February, 2014