| Le Veau d'Or | |
| Current-Owner: | Riad Nasr Lee Hanson |
| Food-Type: | French |
| Street-Address: | 129 East 60th Street |
| City: | New York |
| State: | New York |
| Postcode: | 10022 |
| Country: | United States |
Le Veau d'Or is a restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, serving traditional French cuisine since 1937. As of 2015, it was considered the oldest French bistro in New York City.[1] [2]
Since 2019, Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson (of the restaurant Frenchette) have been the owners, having bought Le Veau d'Or from Catherine Treboux, the daughter of the longtime owner, Robert Treboux, who bought the restaurant in 1985 and died in 2012.[3]
The restaurant opened when many French chefs and restaurateurs were coming to New York to work at the French pavilion at the world's fair in Flushing, Queens who stayed in New York. Robert Treboux was one of those people.
At the height of its popularity, customers included Marlene Dietrich, Ernest Hemingway, Oleg Cassini, Grace Kelly and Orson Welles.[4]
Le Veau d’Or was created by Georges Baratin and Henri Guiget. Georges Baratin’s family owned Les Pleiades in Barbizon, France. Lucien Guillemaud, who had worked with Alexandre Dumaine of la Côte d’Or in Saulieu, France, was the Chef for 17 years.In 1968, Craig Claiborne of The New York Times gave the restaurant a four-star review. He called it the one restaurant he couldn’t live without.[5]
Georges Baratin and Lucien Guillemaud retired in 1970 passing the restaurant to Gerard Rocheteau whose family owned Le Grand Comptoir in Les Halles,Paris. The Chefs were Roland Chenus of Le Pavillon and La Cote Basque, and Gerard Vidal from Lutece. The first American to work with Roland Chenus was Sandy D’Amato who went on to open Sanford Restaurant in Milwaukee and became a James Beard awarded Chef. The other American to have worked in the kitchen was Daniel Leader of Bread Alone.
Gerard Rocheteau retired in 1985 when Robert Treboux bought the restaurant. Robert Treboux had created Le Manoir, Le Clos Normand and La Rotisserie.
In April 2006, Vive le Restaurant was written and published by James Villas and James Oseland for Saveur Magazine.
On February 23, 2009, Le Veau d’Or appeared on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservation show, in the Disappearing Manhattan episode. (Season 5, Episode 8).On , Bourdain was impressed with the breadth of the traditional menu.
When the Frenchette team took over, the plan was to reopen in late 2019 after renovations. The restaurant remained closed for nearly five years due to the pandemic, and ultimately reopened in July 2024.[6] The reopened restaurant includes a new private dining space.[7]
In 2011, the restaurant received the America's Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation.[8]