Le Coq Rico

[small h]

 

I think villagerOfTheEast is trying to hint that there's more trouble here than just Westermann not hanging out.

Something along the lines of not making a profit, perhaps?

 

 

Ding Ding Ding! This, from "Chefs on the Move" in the NYT, would make me a little nervous if I were a fan of the restaurant:

 

Antoine Westermann

 

The French chef is no longer involved with the New York location of Le Coq Rico, his Paris restaurant. In an email, Mr. Westermann, who maintains a 25 percent stake in the New York branch, said he was no longer participating in its operation in any way. A statement from the restaurant, which opened two and a half years ago and received two stars from Pete Wells of The New York Times, said it was because of “a restructuring in management.” But a spokeswoman for the chef said he was pressured to leave because profits were not meeting expectations, and he was unwilling to compromise on the quality of the poultry he was serving. The executive chef, Guillaume Ginther, who has been in the kitchen from the beginning, will remain in his role. Mr. Westermann still owns and runs the Paris location, and says he is eager to open another poultry restaurant in New York.

[prasantrin]

Tl;dr prices will go up, quality will go down.

 

At least I have plenty of time to search for a replacement.

[Wilfrid]

Mm, the restaurant was too good, we can't have nice things.

[taion]

They were never particularly busy, eh. Wonder why.

[joethefoodie]

Tl;dr prices will go up, quality will go down.

 

At least I have plenty of time to search for a replacement.

Or, prices will go down, and they'll serve Perdue.

[splinky]

went for lunch yesterday, nice service, food still good but not quite the same and offering a more limited menu.

[splinky]

name change!

Le Coq Rico is now  Francis & Staub La Rotisserie

[Steve R.]

Anybody been since the name change?  I’m compiling my list of places to go now that things are opening up a bit.  Needless to say, there are priorities being established (chicken perhaps?!).  We liked the original & even went after the partnership dissolved & enjoyed it.  The menu still looks good — how’s the food?

[Jesikka]

I have heard from someone that I trust who has close knowledge that they have been buying standard poultry in America from a mass market vendor without acknowledging such.

[Steve R.]

Thanks.  Appreciate the info.  Cross that one off the list.

[Wilfrid]

Another shrinking menu. The appetizers are fine, but very few entree options for solo diners or parties who don’t all want to eat the same thing. There’s now one whole chicken and one whole duck. If you want half a chicken (they used to offer a quarter) or half a duck, you will pay $46 and $72 respectively, and I kind of hope a $72 duck dish feeds more than one person.

Yes, there’s salmon, but that’s for the one person in the party who won’t eat bird.

This was a useful place positioned between mid- and high-end, but I couldn’t use it now. 

[LiquidNY]

I first went to Le Coq Rico in April 2016 (I think soon after they opened) and it was great.  Went again in 2018 and it was awful.  Avoid.

[Sneakeater]

Liquid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(OK, I'll stop.)

[joethefoodie]

13 hours ago, LiquidNY said:

I first went to Le Coq Rico in April 2016 (I think soon after they opened) and it was great.  Went again in 2018 and it was awful.  Avoid.

I think that was probably after they stopped using the really good birds they were using when they first opened.

I think the current restaurant group running it now is also using not-the-great birds. Scratching this off my list.

[Wilfrid]

The decline has been widely noted; I was just saying that, even if the food was still good, the menu shrinkage makes it really hard to use (unless you are two people who want the same entree).