For years after the legendary French restaurant La Cote Basque went out of business, the small, cursive neon sign for the eatery remained on the side wall of 55th Street space, reminded all passersby of what was lost. It stayed there during the life of Brasserie La Côte Basque, the restaurant's descendant. But there appears to be no room for the memory of the La Cote Basque of Henri Soule and Truman Capote fame in the Benoit of Alain Ducasse. The sign has finally come down and has been replace by a Benoit sign. I hear Benoit is an excellent restaurant. Still, sigh.
You can hardly blame the management of Benoit for not retaining the sign of a failed predecessor.
ReplyDelete"Failed predecessor." Don't know what to say to that characterization of one of the most significant restaurants in New York history.
ReplyDeleteIn my humble opninion, La Cote Basque was lost when it moved out of its ground floor digs on 5th Avenue (to my horror, a Disney store replaced it.)
ReplyDeleteI did have the pleasure to eat there once. It was awesome!