On Carmine Street, Le Chêne, which opened in May from Top Chef France semifinalist Alexia Duchêne, stages a new vision of French dining. Duchêne, 30, brings a chic downtown insouciance, shaped by stints at Passerini and Le Taillevent in Paris, Frenchie in London, and Margot in Brooklyn.
She slips plates through an arched kitchen window while her husband and co-owner, Ronan Duchêne Le May, runs the floor. The soundtrack is French disco pop, and technicolor Basquiat and Warhol prints punctuate the walls against crisp white tablecloths.
Le Chêne is Duchêne’s rebuttal to the predictable comforts of steak au poivre, escargot, and foie gras mousse. “As French people, we felt like a few things were missing in New York—not an exact dish, but this effortless way of eating we have in France,” she explains. Too many French restaurants here, she adds, bear the stamp of big-name groups. Her aim is riskier, more ambitious, yet grounded in technique and imaginative plating.
The menu makes her wunderkind label stick: oeufs mayo tilt toward a tuna melt, with tartare and jammy eggs under a blanket of pumpkin-orange Mimolette. An amuse-bouche of custardy French toast glistens with red pepper purée, topped with alternating bites of Hokkaido uni and bone marrow. Sweet harissa spikes tartare. A thick slab of foie gras terrine embeds artichoke, its richness sliced through by the bitterness of burnt grapefruit, a flavor often maligned in traditional French cooking.
The centerpiece is the pithiviers terre et mer, a domed puff pastry pie of pork, potato gratin, and smoked eel. Lettuce leaves protrude like magical beanstalks. Duchêne serves it with jus and a beetroot condiment inspired by sweet-and-sour sauce, a nod to her British heritage.
The wine list is forty-four pages and Champagne and Burgundy-heavy. The 4,000-plus bottles span buttery whites and earthy reds in a lobster-shaped decanter. “French restaurants can be serious,” Duchêne allows. “We wanted something a touch steamy, that feels like a fun night out.”
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