Classic NYC restaurant sets stage for seduction Gen Z diners are in love

Publish date: 2024-07-13

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Restaurateur Marco Moreira is either the bravest man in New York — or the craziest. 

His recently reopened Tocqueville, heroically reborn after a blaze and rebranded as 15East @ Tocqueville, flaunts the post-pandemic restaurant rules.

The seasonally driven, Modern American place has bet the farm on wooing customers to a plush jewel box that’s everything today’s diners supposedly shun.

The design — walls in “Burgundian aubergine,” cozy banquettes and a Deco-inspired carpet deep enough to stage a tryst — seems to be almost consciously trying to scare the millennial and Gen Z crowd. 

But if that was the plan, it’s not working — I observed more than a few members of the Selfie Generation enjoying themselves in the dining room on several different nights.

A measured ambience shames the far noisier newcomers that scene-driven hacks overhype — the places that scream for social media attention.

After a fire in 2021 that took out a chunk of their East 15th Street block, Tocqueville started over — only the classic chandelier remains. Stefano Giovannini

Even at the height of the dinner hour here, Tocqueville is civilized enough that you can hear your heart beat — in stark contrast to raucous Le Rock, Bad Roman and Torrisi.

While simply grilled seafood is the rage at many modern places, Tocqueville’s poached Maine lobster enjoys an elaborate, out-of-fashion serenade of “forbidden” black rice, Napa cabbage and Thai red curry.

Unlike its impersonal predecessor that was destroyed by an arson fire, the new Tocqueville is full-on romantic; the sumptuous look and feel are supposedly meant to evoke a clubby Parisian townhouse with “Bohemian touches.”

Third-date seduction chamber is more like it, with tables spaced widely enough that your sweet nothings won’t end up on someone else’s TikTok video.

Real estate attorney Julia Rozenblat, 27, was a fan of the old Tocqueville — but she likes the new room even better.

Recently married, she and her husband find it “much more sexy, dark and intriguing.”

While simply grilled seafood is the rage at many modern places, the restaurant’s poached Maine lobster enjoys an elaborate, out-of-fashion serenade of “forbidden” black rice, Napa cabbage and Thai red curry. Stefano Giovannini

Before a meal, they like to mingle at the intimate bar, where Rozenblat said they recently met “a really nice couple in their 30s.”   

The first Tocqueville opened at 1 E. 15th St. in 2000 and moved a few doors down to No. 15 in 2006, where it remains today.

“[We’ve] had a good run on the block — despite 9/11 and the Wall Street crash,” Moreira told me.

A large and festive sidewalk patio that doubled the 66-seat capacity carried it through the early pandemic. 

Moreira said, “We were doing crazy numbers” when limited indoor dining was briefly allowed in October 2020 and restored in February 2021.

But a madman torched several East 15th storefronts — including Tocqueville’s — in early June of 2021. The fire was set on the patio and “eventually penetrated the storefront,” Moreira recalled with an audible shudder. 

One younger customer before and after the fire called the new look “much more sexy, dark and intriguing.” Stefano Giovannini

The blaze set off sprinklers, which — as is common — caused more damage than the flames.

“We were completely wrecked,” Moreira said. “Total destruction. The ceiling was falling down for weeks.”

They later found that the floor and sub-floor were also ruined. “It was like walking on a lake.”

He knew right away that he wanted to reopen, and starting from scratch gave him an opportunity for something new.

The first Tocqueville opened in a smaller space down the block in 2000 and moved to larger quarters at 15. E. 15th St. in 2006. Stefano Giovannini

“People loved it, but it needed reinvention,” Moreira said.

Everything in the near-$1.5 million reconstruction is new — except for the original, beautiful chandelier.

Moreira and designer Andres Escobar dreamed up the new setting, which includes a “sky box” mezzanine for private parties.

Longtime executive chef Julien Wargnies offers tasting menus of three, five and seven courses for $125, $175 and $245.

Dishes I’ve tried lived up to the sumptuous setting.

The house-cured and smoked duck breast is attended by celeriac mousseline and rhubarb confit. Stefano Giovannini

House-cured and smoked duck breast attended by celeriac mousseline and rhubarb confit and bathed in natural juice was almost tender enough to sip through a straw.

Creamy Parmesan grits and sunny-side-up egg were as lush on tongue and palate as the room’s luxury wants.

Tocqueville always had first-class sushi, too. Next week, it will join the crowded omakase field with a $225 menu by chef Katsushi Sakai in an intimate space near the 1906 Beaux Arts entrance with seven counter seats and 10 table seats.

Rozenblat looks forward to what she calls the “two restaurants in one” format.

Tocqueville invites late-night indolence at a time when fewer people stay out late.

The restaurant, which offered sushi before, will debut a $225 omakase menu by chef Sakai Katsushi in an intimate space near the 1906 Beaux Arts entrance. Stefano Giovannini

But I was surprised to see so many younger customers linger past 10 p.m. in a room that looks more formal than its easygoing service makes it feel.

“I’m not trying to cater to a particular clientele,” Moreira said. “Some of our old clientele aren’t in the city anymore, so we’re getting more young people who never knew the original.”

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