Le Veau d'Or

Le Veau d'Or has been on East 60th Street since 1937, which makes it, by Eater's count, the city's oldest French bistro. Orson Welles had the window banquette. James Beard, Jacqueline Onassis and Marlene Dietrich kept house accounts. Catherine Treboux, daughter of the third owner, Robert, ran it until 2019, when she handed it to Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, the chefs behind Frenchette. They had first called her about it in 2012. After five dark years and a long restoration, it reopened in July 2024.

Their brief to themselves was not to leave fingerprints. 'We want the regulars to come back,' Nasr told Eater. So the menu reads like a document: frog legs persillade, mackerel au vin blanc, tête de veau ravigote, pommes soufflées with red caviar and cream, a trio of offal called les délices Veau d'Or, hanger steak béarnaise or au poivre, cheese before dessert, îles flottantes to finish. The tablecloths are gingham. The painting of the sleeping calf, le veau dort, is still on the wall.

The painting of the sleeping calf, le veau dort, is still on the wall.

The wine list is the modern part: about a hundred French bottles chosen by Jorge Riera, the group's longtime wine director, including pours rarely seen outside France. Ask the bar for the Le Veau d'Or cocktail, which is Dubonnet, Champagne, kirsch and an anchovy-stuffed cherry, and is from the old recipe book. The bar itself is for drinking only.

Fifty-five seats, so getting in takes planning. Tables are released fourteen days ahead in the morning. It is the dinner for someone who thinks they have seen New York.

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