Le Veau d'Or

The Bistro That Came Back

3.5 of 5

Le Veau d'Or opened in 1937 and in 2015 was called the oldest French bistro in New York City. Then it went dark for nearly five years. Hemingway, Grace Kelly and Orson Welles had eaten here. Craig Claiborne gave it four stars in 1968 and called it the one restaurant he could not live without. That is a lot of weight to carry through a closure.

In 2019 Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson of Frenchette bought it, and in July 2024 it reopened with a new private dining space. The James Beard Foundation gave it an America's Classics Award back in 2011, which tells you it was loved before the new owners arrived. The menu keeps the breadth of the traditional French list. Order the way a regular would and let the room do the talking.

The nearest thing to its story in this city is a neighbor who left, came back and found the block had changed. The room has to prove itself again, and the best way to find out is to book a table and eat the old-school food it was built for. Go early on a weeknight. A restaurant older than most of its guests deserves a patient visit.

Order this: The traditional bistro menu, Something from the classics list, in the old order, A table in the main room
The damage: $$$
Go: A weeknight, early, with a coat and an appetite for the traditional
Find it: 129 East 60th Street, New York, NY 10022