La Crémaillère Reopens

admin Posted OnApril 4, 2022

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La Crémaillère Reopens

La Crémaillère, a Westchester institution that dates back to 1961 recently reopened under new ownership and management from the front of the room to the kitchen. The celebrated French country restaurant and long time celebrity magnet on Bedford Banksville Road has a history that dates back to the 1939 World’s Fair and has catered to the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Glenn Close, Tom Brokaw, Regis Philbin, Paul Shaffer, Billy Joel, and Mick Jagger.

After a series of soft launches, they fully reopened in late winter under the deep pocket ownership of two former well-known patrons who wanted to keep the “La Crem” legacy alive. So, what’s changed and what has remained the same. On premises, as it turns out, little has changed to the historic and picturesque 1750’s farmhouse inside and out.

The Jean Pajet wall murals depicting traditional regional costumes from French provinces are still there. All the great silverware, cloches and serving dishes remain. As does the table where Ryan O’Neal and Candice Bergen dined in the motion picture Oliver’s Story, the sequel to Love Story. The one significant change, which may not be controversial for many, is that they traded in the famed pink tablecloths for white.

New Chef With a Pedigree that Links to Thomas Keller and Eric Ripert

And while the integrity of La Crémaillère’s kitchen has never been questioned, it perhaps has never had the pedigree it does now with its new Executive Chef, Thomas Burke. Chef Thomas, precociously became the Chef de Cuisine at Purdy’s Farmer and the Fish at the age of 20. After opening their Park Avenue location in Manhattan he went on to work in several Michelin starred restaurants including Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin and Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry in Napa Valley. His most recent stint was as an Executive Chef for the Charlie Palmer Collective, a renowned nationwide hospitality group that includes Aureole in Las Vegas and six Charlie Palmer Steak locations including two in Manhattan (at One Bryant Park and at the Knickerbocker Hotel) and in DC, Vegas, Reno, and Napa.

Chef Thomas is taking “La Crem” in more of a fine dining direction. Which shows you what we know because it was always fine dining to us. His modern take on French cuisine features a spring menu, that includes a Chilled Spring Pea Velout, Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Wild Atlantic Halibut, fennel and leak confit and sauce verte, Long Island Duck Breast A L’Orange and a Milk Fed Veal Chop. Sadly, the family sized hot round Boule that began every meal is gone, though the chef assured us that their new bread is equally delicious. But the Pommes Frites are the same and that works for me.

La Crémaillère which was a perennial Top Ten Restaurant in Westchester/Hudson Valley (Zagats), was named one of America’s Most Beloved Restaurants by Town & Country, and was voted one of the 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in America by OpenTable diners in 2017. It tops our Bucket List of area eateries for foodies, people watchers and anyone that calls the ABC towns home.

Its legacy dates back to the very introduction of French cuisine in America at the 1939-40 World’s Fair when Robert Meyzen Sr. came to the U.S. from France with the French Pavilion. Meyzen was on Henry Soule’s staff when he opened Le Pavillon in New York in 1941. And in 1960, he and his business partner, Fred Decré, established La Caravelle in New York City, which earned the highest ratings from food guidebooks, and the attention of many celebrities, including Joseph Kennedy. (Indeed, some of La Caravelle’s recipes, including champagne chicken, were later made in the Kennedy White House.) The following year Meyzen and Decré purchased La Crémaillère on Bedford-Banksville Road that became their country restaurant. Eventually they moved the business permanently to Bedford.