One of restaurateur Cody Pruitt’s favorite dishes is duck a l’orange, the French dish that, in his opinion, isn’t seen enough nowadays. But that’s precisely why he knew he had to serve it at his new restaurant, Chateau Royale, where Pruitt and the team elegantly highlight the past and present of glorious New York French restaurants.
Don’t call this duck a l’orange’s comeback; instead, call it a reenvisioning of a classic French dish brought into today’s world. Chateau’s version ($54) goes from retro to modern, where the sliced, crispy-skinned duck breast filet is served drenched in a citrusy sauce made of calamansi, bergamot, and blood orange. It’s a bright, rich, and decadent filet that is meant to taste like elegance and comfort. “I wanted to bring back and find dishes that were maybe not cool anymore, but they’re still not esoteric,” Pruitt explains.
The lavish Chateau, opening in Greenwich Village at 205 Thompson Street, near Bleecker Street on Tuesday, July 29, is the embodiment of Pruitt’s vision of what a French restaurant with New York flair can be. Or, as he explains it: “Our ode to New York French restaurants and looking at nostalgia through a New York French lens.”
The bar at Chateau Royale. Evan Sung/Chateau Royale
A dining table at at Chateau Royale. Evan Sung/Chateau Royale
After opening Libertine in 2023 — a slightly less dressed-up sibling — Pruitt knew he wanted to continue to explore and spotlight French cuisine. “I felt like there was a lot more that we still had to say in regards to the overall French restaurant paradigm,” he tells Eater. So, as a native New Yorker who spent a lot of his childhood in France, he turned to his city’s rich history rooted in French dining.
Pruitt, along with co-partner and co-owner Jacob Cohen, did their homework. His research included the World’s Fair in the late 1930s with its French Pavilion; shuttered legacy NYC fine dining restaurants like Lutèce; and still-standing old-school spots like the Odeon.
Two years following the debut of Libertine, New York’s French restaurant scene has only gotten more crowded: From the revamped Le Veau d’Or, newcomer Le Chêne, uptown buzzy spot Chez Fifi, Southern French Zimmi’s, and so many others (Pruitt even consulted on the Meatpacking $75 prix fixe spot, Sirrah, which opened recently).
For Chateau Royale, he combed through old menus from his collection, the archives at the New York Public Library, and his own memories — Pruitt recounts his first American fine dining visit to Chanterelle, celebrating birthdays at Raoul’s, and dining on oysters and fries at Balthazar’s bar. He even visited the addresses of the shuttered restaurants to “get a feel for those settings,” he says.
Evan Sung/Chateau Royale
Evan Sung/Chateau Royale
Evan Sung/Chateau Royale
All of those layers work together to build Chateau Royale. Pruitt went looking for dishes that he felt weren’t properly represented on New York or American menus anymore, but are staples of longtime bistros and restaurants in France. This meant the aforementioned duck a l’orange, as well as lobster thermidor ($72) and chicken cordon bleu ($39) (the latter, a dish that also recently made a reappearance elsewhere in the West Village at Fedora). “Some of these dishes were on these menus for that long for a reason, and these restaurants existed for just as long for the same reason,” he explains.
One such dish is Beggar’s Purses ($39), an ode to Quilted Giraffe (executive chef Brian Young had worked at the NYC French restaurant years prior; more recently, though, he had been the chef de cuisine at Le Bernardin). The purselike crepes are filled with caviar and creme fraiche and tied with chives.
The Thompson address is a two-floor carriage house, which formerly housed Mexican restaurants, but was redesigned by Pruitt. The 30-bar space is on the first floor, with the dining room on the second (tall people, watch your heads when you’re walking up the stairs). The 50-seat dining room is anchored with a skylight perfect for natural light during daytime hours.
The first-floor bar’s food and drink menu takes its cues from iconic bars in Paris, like Harry’s New York and the Ritz. Drinks include the house martini, with gin or vodka, dirty or classic; Kir Royales; Bee’s Knees Milk Punch; and the Between the Sheets, made with the restaurant’s house rum blend.
To eat, there’s the Chien Chaud ($20), a hot dog in honor of Harry’s with a sunchoke and celeriac relish, summer truffle aioli, and crispy artichokes; and the burger ($27) with Fourme d’Ambert cheese. “Jake and I are both New Yorkers and, for us, finding not only these forgotten and undersung classic timeless dishes was really important to us,” Pruitt says, “but also finding commonality in a very lateral way between these concentric circles between French restaurants and French cuisine and New York cuisine was important.”
Preparing a martini at Chateau Royale. Evan Sung/Chateau Royale
The sidecar cocktail at Chateau Royale. Evan Sung/Chateau Royale
The dining room doesn’t have a bar, so instead, Pruitt employs some theatrics. Pre-batched, pre-diluted cocktails are pulled from freezers hidden in the walls and then carted over to dining tables for assembling. “I’m a sucker for tableside service,” Pruitt says.
Per Pruitt’s strong wine background, the list is all French at Chateau. He aimed to focus on natural wines as well as classic regions, and is particularly happy with the Burgundies. However, there are some sakes on offer, too.
Even in its higher prices, Chateau is meant to feel unpretentious. “So many restaurants in general, whether they’re new or not, casual fine-dining or stuffy fine-dining, I feel there’s a certain convivial elegance that is sorely lacking in dining, and I want to bring that back,” Pruitt says. “Familiarity just with a little bit more of a tuxedo on it.”