Henri Soulé (1903, Bayonne, France –1966 New York City)[1] was the proprietor of Le Pavillon[2] and La Côte Basque[3] restaurants in New York City. Soulé also operated The Hedges in Southampton, New York.[4]

He is credited with having “trained an entire generation of French chefs and New York restaurant owners.”[5] He is also credited with using Siberia to describe the least desirable seats in a restaurant.[6]

Biography

Soulé was a captain at the Café de Paris before becoming the maître d’.[7]

At the request of the French government, he came to the United States to run the Le Restaurant Français[8] at the 1939 World's Fair. He did not return to France at the end of the Fair due to the German occupation.[9] He opened Le Pavillon in 1941,[10] considered the most influential French restaurant in America in the 1940s and 1950s.[11]

In his autobiography "The Apprentice",[12] the noted chef Jacques Pepin describes Henri Soule, who he worked for at Le Pavilion, as being exploitative and abusive to his employees, including his then head chef Pierre Franey. 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 couldn't 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 said “we had lost ‘the Michelangelo, the Mozart, the Leonardo of the French restaurant in America.’”[13] It is said he died of a stroke at La Côte Basque.[14] Another source says he died of a heart attack.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Alexander, Kelly (May 3, 2017). "The Daily Meal Hall of Fame: Henri Soulé". The Daily Meal. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  2. ↑ Plait, Adam. "A Nice Plate of Pike Quenelles Got a Little Harder to Find". New York Magazine. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  3. ↑ Berger, Joseph (September 18, 2003). "Côte Basque, a Society Temple, Is Closing". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ "The Story Of A House". The Hedges Inn. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  5. ↑ Freedman, Paul (20 September 2016). Ten Restaurants That Changed America. Liveright Publishing. ISBN 9781631492464. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  6. ↑ Dangremond, Sam (October 21, 2016). "The 10 Most Important Restaurants in America". Town&Country Magazine. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Azzanto, Amy. "New York Haute Cuisine". Biblion. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  8. ↑ Barelli-Persson, Laird (September 11, 2016). "A Look Back at the Legendary New York City Restaurant Haunts of Café Society and the Jet Set". Vogue. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  9. ↑ "Restaurant". 1939 World’s Fair. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  10. ↑ Alexander, Kelly (May 3, 2017). "The Daily Meal Hall of Fame: Henri Soulé". The Daily Meal. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  11. ↑ Miller, Bryan (February 28, 1992). "Restaurants". NY Times. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  12. ↑ Pepin, Jacques. The apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2003. ISBN 978-0544657496, ASIN 0544657497
  13. ↑ Alexander, Kelly (May 3, 2017). "The Daily Meal Hall of Fame: Henri Soulé". The Daily Meal. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  14. ↑ Christy, George. "George Christy Talks About Ralph Lauren, The Polo Bar, Henri Soule, Truman Capote and More!". Beverly Hills Couriet. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  15. ↑ Freedman, Paul (October 27, 2016). "People don't like French food as much as they used to because French restaurants are pretentious". Quartz. Retrieved 21 January 2018.


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