Le Pavillon

Le Pavillon was a New York City restaurant that defined French food in the United States from 1941 to 1966.

The restaurant started as the "Le Restaurant du Pavillon de France" at the 1939 New York World's Fair run by Henri Soulé. When World War II began, Soulé and the Pavillon chef Pierre Franey stayed in the United States as war refugees.

The restaurant formally opened on October 15, 1941 at 5 East 55th Street on Fifth Avenue (Manhattan) across the street from the St. Regis Hotel.

The restaurant moved to 57th and Park Avenue following a rent dispute in 1957 with building owner Harry Cohn--Cohn had purchased the building in an attempt to get a better seat in the restaurant [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898950,00.html] . When Cohn died, Soulé returned to the Fifth Avenue space and opened another legendary restaurant, La Côte Basque (which was to be the setting for several Truman Capote stories). Franey was chef for both restaurants until 1960.

Soulé died in 1966 and the Le Pavillon closed in 1971. La Cote Basque changed ownership in 1979, flourished for a time under new management, then closed in 2004.

References

* [http://www.arthorizons.com/FCI/soule.html Profile of restaurant]
* [http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/040322ta_talk_gopnik New Yorker profile]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5DF143FF93BA15751C0A964958260 New York Times profile]
* [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/050815/15fair.htm US News Profile]