Le Périgord
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| Le Périgord | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of Le Périgord | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | April 1, 1964 |
| Closed | March 11, 2017 |
| Previous owner | Georges Briguet |
| Location | 405 East 52nd Street, New York, New York, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°45′18″N 73°57′53″W / 40.75500°N 73.96472°W |
| Seating capacity | 115 seats[1] |
Le Périgord was a French restaurant in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City from 1964 to 2017. Located at 405 East 52nd Street in the base of the Sutton House, the restaurant was owned by Georges Briguet throughout its entire existence.
The restaurant opened on April 1, 1964, after Georges Briguet bought the restaurant La Provence and renamed it "Le Périgord".[2][3] The first chef was Ferdinand Desbans, who had been the chef at La Provence and had previously worked at Cafe Chambord and as the chef to Prince Louis II of Monaco; Desbans hailed from the region of France that was historically known as the Périgord.[3][4][5]
Although there were over 20 authentic French restaurants operating in East Midtown at the time of Le Périgord's opening,[2] the restaurant quickly began drawing attention after Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were captured in a 1964 photo leaving the restaurant during their affair.[1][6] In 1969, Le Périgord Park opened as a sister restaurant on Park Avenue at East 63rd Street, which served a similar menu;[1][7][8] it closed in 1985.[1]
Men dining at the restaurant were originally required to wear a jacket and tie.[9] Briguet once turned away Truman Capote when he arrived without a tie, but allowed him to dine the following week when he arrived wearing a jacket, tie and Bermuda shorts, telling him "Monsieur, you have such beautiful legs. I wish people had such legs as you".[9] By the late 1990s, Le Périgord was one of a handful of restaurants in New York City—including the 21 Club, the Carlyle, Le Cirque, La Côte Basque, La Grenouille and the Rainbow Room—that still required a tie.[10] After the Great Recession, Briguet decided to separate the seating areas, sitting the fine dining clientele near each other and away from other diners that were not as formally dressed to avoid turning away business.[9]
Le Périgord closed on March 11, 2017 as a result of Briguet failing to reach an agreement with Local 100 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union.[11][12][13] With eight years remaining on the lease, Briguet had planned to rehire his former employees and reopen as a non-union restaurant called "Restaurant 405" at the same location about six months later,[11][12] but the venue remained vacant until his death in 2022.[1]
In addition to Desbans, other chefs who had worked at Le Périgord during its history included Joël Benjamin, David Bouley, Antoine Bouterin, Pascal Couduoy, Andre Gaillard, Thomas Keller, Willy Krause, Roger Lozak and Jacques Qualin.[5][14][15][16]