There are certain phrases that, once upon a time, had gravitas in Manhattan: duck à l’orange, lobster thermidor, cordon bleu. Once the vernacular of tuxedoed waiters and multi-course nights, they became punchlines to the fast-casual generation. But Cody Pruitt—restaurateur, nostalgia-savant, and co-founder of the new Chateau Royale in Greenwich Village—thinks they still have something to say. Maybe even something delicious.
And so, on the old cobbles of Thompson Street, in a two-story carriage house that used to echo with margaritas and mariachi, Chateau Royale officially opens today, July 29, bringing back the old New York French dining experience—with just enough edge to keep it from slipping into sepia.
After the success of Libertine in 2023, a warmly beloved bistro that played the French hits without pretension, Pruitt—along with co-owner Jacob Cohen and executive chef Brian Young (ex–Le Bernardin)—went deeper into the archives. He pored over old menus, haunted the NYPL, even walked the ghosts of shuttered grande dames like Lutèce and Chanterelle. “There was still more to say,” he told Eater NY, “and some dishes that deserve to be on tables again.”
So here comes the $54 duck à l’orange, resurrected and reborn. The duck breast arrives crispy, elegantly sliced, in a sauce not of Seville oranges but of calamansi, bergamot, and blood orange—a tart-bitter-citrus trifecta that lands somewhere between elegance and electric jolt. It’s not a throwback; it’s a remix.
The rest of the menu follows suit. There’s lobster thermidor at $72, a chicken cordon bleu ($39) that’s quietly making a West Village renaissance, and the dish that best captures the restaurant’s mission: Beggar’s Purses ($39), caviar-and-crème-fraîche crepes tied with chives, a tribute to the late, eccentric Quilted Giraffe.
The space mirrors the menu’s tension between memory and modernity. Downstairs, a 30-seat bar channels Harry’s New York Bar and the Ritz Paris, serving Kir Royales, Bee’s Knees Milk Punch, and a Between the Sheets made with a custom rum blend. There’s a $20 hot dog (Chien Chaud) with sunchoke-celeriac relish and truffle aioli. The burger ($27) gets gilded with Fourme d’Ambert, a blue cheese rarely seen outside of deep France or deeper expense accounts.
Upstairs is the 50-seat dining room, skylit and intimate. There’s no bar up here, but there is tableside drama. Drinks emerge from hidden freezers, mixed and finished in front of you, a nod to Pruitt’s love of tableside service—equal parts showmanship and ritual.
The wine list leans fully French, leaning especially into Burgundy and natural wines, though a few sakes sneak in—just enough surprise to keep things from getting too doctrinaire.
Call it a love letter. Or call it what Pruitt calls it: “Our ode to New York French restaurants and looking at nostalgia through a New York French lens.” Either way, Chateau Royale isn’t just reviving the past—it’s giving it a new, and richly flavored, future.
For more information or to make reservations, head over to the official website.
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