The Lights Are Back on at Michelin-Starred Le Coucou After a Year-Plus Closure

Le Coucou, the acclaimed French restaurant from Stephen Starr and chef Daniel Rose, will reopen its doors at long last, bringing an end to a pandemic closure that spanned more than a year and a half. Still helmed by Rose, the fine dining Soho restaurant will reopen on November 7 with a reimagined menu and both fresh and familiar faces in its kitchen.

The restaurant, open for dinner only to start, will offer an a la carte menu, as was the case before the pandemic, as well as a new four-course tasting menu priced at $185 per person. The dessert menu, previously overseen by Daniel Skurnick, has been overhauled by chef Mark Henning, an alum of Michelin-starred restaurants the Clocktower and the Modern.

The full menu is still coming together, but a spokesperson for Le Coucou tells Eater that Rose will continue to lean on French cooking techniques on a list of dishes that’s mostly new. Several items from the restaurant’s previous menu, including its whole rabbit and dover sole, will continue to be served.

It’s the first sign of life from the Michelin-starred French restaurant, which has remained temporarily closed since the statewide restaurant shutdown last spring. A number of restaurants across the city have remained open throughout much of the pandemic by pivoting to takeout, delivery, and outdoor dining. Still, some of the city’s most acclaimed establishments have also been the slowest to reopen.

Le Coucou is the latest to mount a comeback, following the return of Daniel, Barbuto, Eleven Madison Park, and other upscale establishments earlier this summer and fall. Others, including Blanca and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, which each have two Michelin stars, and East Village bistro Prune remain temporarily closed at the time of publication.

Le Coucou will be open Mondays to Saturdays, from 5 to 11 p.m., and Sundays from 5 to 10 p.m. Reservations are available through Open Table.