Florent was an all-night

diner A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a com ...

in the

Meatpacking District The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan that runs from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street. The Meatpacking Business Improvement District along ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

that opened in 1985 and closed in 2008.

History

Florent was located at 69

Gansevoort Street Gansevoort may refer to any one of the following: __NOTOC__ People *Guert Gansevoort (1812–1868), US Navy officer *Harmen Harmense Gansevoort (ca. 1634–1709), early American settler, landowner and beer brewer *Leonard Gansevoort (1751–1810), ...

, one of the few remaining

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fro ...

streets in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1985 Florent Morellet took over the R&L Restaurant, which had opened in 1943, and renamed it Florent. The following January, a reporter for ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'' magazine referred to it as "New York's hottest downtown eating spot". Florent was a hub of gay New York. Morellet was diagnosed

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the ...

in 1987 and used to post his

T-cell A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell rec ...

count on the restaurant's wall menu along with the daily specials. It attracted a highly eclectic clientele. It was also known for its

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called the (; "French National Celebration"); legally it is known as (; "t ...

celebrations, which started in 1989, the year of the French bicentennial. Other major annual celebrations were

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

, and Oscar Night. Morellet campaigned for the preservation of the neighborhood and became known as "Unofficial Mayor of the Meatpacking District"; he preferred "Unofficial Queen". The graphic design for the restaurant was designed by

Tibor Kalman Tibor George Kalman (July 6, 1949 – May 2, 1999) was an American graphic designer of Hungarian origin, well known for his work as editor-in-chief of ''Colors'' magazine. Early life Kalman was born on July 6, 1949, in Budapest, to parents Ma ...

and Douglas Riccardi from M&Co, in exchange for free meals; examples are now in the

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

design collection. Florent Morellet, the eponymous owner of the restaurant, is the youngest son of French conceptual artist, Francois Morellet.

Erica De Mane Erica De Mane (born December 3, 1953, in Rye, New York, United States) is an American chef, food writer, and teacher who specializes in Italian cooking. She is the author of ''The Flavors of Southern Italy'', ''Pasta Improvvisata'', and ''Will ...

, the food journalist and cookbook writer, began her cooking career at Florent in 1985. Florent closed on June 29, 2008, after the landlord raised the rent considerably. In the last weeks, Morellet held five parties themed after the stages of grief.

Films

In May 2011, Magic Lantern released ''Florent: Queen of the Meat Market'', a documentary history of the restaurant directed by

David Sigal David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

. ,

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...

is planning to co-produce with Sigal and star in a

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

biography of Morellet focusing on Florent.

References

External links

''Florent: Queen of the Meat Market''
on the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Florent Defunct restaurants in New York City French restaurants in New York City Defunct French restaurants in the United States