Henri Soulé (1903–1966) was the French-American proprietor of Le Pavillon and

La Côte Basque La Côte Basque was a New York City restaurant. It opened in the late 1950s and operated until it closed on March 7, 2004. In business for 45 years, upon its closing ''The New York Times'' called it a "former high-society temple of French cuisin ...

restaurants in New York City. Soulé also operated The Hedges in

East Hampton, New York East Hampton is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York United States. It is located at the eastern end of the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town i ...

. He is credited with having "trained an entire generation of French chefs and New York restaurant owners." He is also credited with using Siberia to describe the least desirable seats in a restaurant.

Biography

Soulé was a captain at the Café de Paris before becoming the maître d'. At the request of the French government, he came to the United States to run the Le Restaurant Français at the 1939 World's Fair. He did not return to France at the end of the Fair due to the German occupation. He opened Le Pavillon in 1941, considered the most influential French restaurant in America in the 1940s and 1950s. In his autobiography ''The Apprentice'', noted chef

Jacques Pepin Jacques or Jacq are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over one hundred identified noble families related t ...

describes Soulé, whom he worked for at Le Pavilion, as being exploitative and abusive to his employees, including his then head chef

Pierre Franey Pierre Franey (January 13, 1921 – October 15, 1996) was a French-born American chef, best known for his televised cooking shows and his "60 Minute Gourmet" column in ''The New York Times''. Early years Franey grew up in northern Burgund ...

. Soule used hired criminals to physically threaten his staff when they demanded increased pay. A goon lifted Pepin physically off the ground after an initial protest, which was suppressed. However, Soulé could not keep his employees from departing en masse for other employment, which they did: Le Pavilion shut down shortly thereafter. When he died, ''New York Times'' restaurant critic

Craig Claiborne Craig Claiborne (September 4, 1920 January 22, 2000) was an American restaurant critic, food journalist and book author. A long-time food editor and restaurant critic for ''The New York Times'', he was also the author of numerous cookbooks ...

said "we had lost 'the Michelangelo, the Mozart, the Leonardo of the French restaurant in America.'" One source states he died of a stroke at La Côte Basque. Another source says he died of a heart attack.

References

External links

* American restaurateurs 1903 births 1966 deaths People from Bayonne French emigrants to the United States {{US-business-bio-1900s-stub