Le Veau d'Or is a restaurant on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

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, serving traditional French cuisine since 1937. As of 2015, it was considered the oldest French bistro in New York City. 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.

History

The restaurant opened when many French chefs and

restaurateurs A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

were coming to New York to work at the French pavilion at the

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who stayed in New York. Robert Treboux was one of those people. At the height of its popularity, customers included

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

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, and

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. 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. By 1980, the restaurant's reputation had diminished. That year, ''The New York Times'' critic Moira Hodgson gave the restaurant a fair rating. On '' Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations'', Bourdain was impressed with the breadth of the traditional menu. Catherine Treboux said appearing on the show helped their business. When the Frenchette team took over, the plan was to reopen in late 2019 after renovations. The restaurant remained closed for nearly five years, and ultimately reopened in July 2024. The reopened restaurant includes a new private dining space.

Honors and awards

In 2011, the restaurant received the America's Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation.

References

External links

Anthony Bourdain’s Guide to Disappearing New York
{{Upper East Side America's Classics winners 1937 establishments in New York City French restaurants in Manhattan Restaurants established in 1937 Upper East Side Fine dining restaurants in Manhattan