LVMH has acquired a majority interest in the legendary restaurant. The quality of the food in the past has been controversial, but I would expect the quality going forward to be impeccable – LVMH always charges top euro, but except for the mass market bottles of Moët & Chandon, always provides outstanding quality.
I would have expected Alain Ducasse to have taken it over, but I guess the price was out of his league.
Obviously (at least to anyone who knows me), I have never even thought of eating there (or had the chance to turn it down). But your linked review from Vanity Fair (2011) was incredible. I have just about never seen such a pure hatred piece written by an established reviewer. But it was fun reading. Thanks.
Our late friend John Talbott, whose opinions were very close to mine, did not like it and defended Gill on his blog. . I’ve known people who were so convinced that L’Ami Louis was great that they read John as praising the restaurant (he was not – I had conversations with him).
I’ve never tried it, and unless someone offers to take me, I probably never will.
BTW, please excuse the typo in the heading – it should be Chez L’Ami Louis without the extra “s” but I am unable to correct it.
Like John Talbott but at a different time, I also defended Gill on the blog I had then. I don’t think I had ever read John’s post, but it is a hoot, and an elegant one, as usual.
I agree with you than a purchase by LVMH should reasonably improve the quality of the food. Otherwise I wouldn’t see the point of being purchased by LVMH.
@SteveR, believe me, all considerations about English sarcastic hyperbole put aside, A. A. Gill wasn’t exaggerating in any way.
Interestingly, some of the articles on the sale say that Bernard Arnault (head of LVMH) and his arch rival Pinault are both regulars at the restaurant. But as you have pointed out in the past, the allure of the restaurant was as a power venue.
Probably going to open up subs in Vegas, Dubai, Heathrow, etc. where folks would go in for such a thing…
With assorted L’Ami Louis souvenir kitchen aprons and tableware to take away.
Was going to say the same. Imho this means the quality will most likely decline.
Thank you onzieme for the Vanity fair link. I don’t know how I missed this back in 2011, but I did. it is a wonderfully wicked review and reminds me the days when Vanity Fair was Vanity Fair instead of the shell of a magazine it has become under current management. Fortunately, my husband and I have always avoided Chez L’Amis Louis during our Paris trips and it shall remain on our “never” list.
As an aside, I enjoy your restaurant reviews on this site and on “The Fine Wine Review”. We have followed many of your recommendations and have never been disappointed. Forget Lobrano, Follow Claude is our motto !
Thank you, Tucsonbabe.
That was a lovely hit piece. I was only half way through when it lost its charm but it was a literary lesson. I think my favorite bit was:
" Twenty minutes later, possibly under their own steam, the snails arrive. "
I’ve never been but always curious; does not seem like the place for a solo diner, though. If anyone has their hands on Ruth Reichl’s new fiction, THE PARIS NOVEL, look for the chat about the restaurant. Like all of the restaurants mentioned in the book, set in the 1980s, she gives it glowing mention. Not a great novel but it’s fun to read about the various restaurants visited by the heroine 40 years ago…
Alain Ducasse, owner of nearly 40 restaurants worldwide, including 6 Michelin 3*, has a net worth in excess of US$500 Million. Though cannot compare with one of the world’s largest conglomerate.
However, if wanted to, I don’t think Ducasse will have any problem financing to buy a bistro like L’Ami Louis?
I’m thinking back to where I first read about the restaurant. Could it have been a review, or commentary, by the great R.W. Apple in The NY Times?
And:
https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/12/dining/in-paris-bistros-still-draw-a-full-house.html
I do remember that it was the RW Apple story on a Bangkok street restaurant that served an ethereal crab omelette (I think an omelette). That place is still going strong, I believe, even though 20 or so years ago, way after the Apple story that brought it to my attention, it was so mobbed that I could not get a seat.
There are lots of things I can afford but that I don’t buy because the prices are, IMO, ridiculous, yet someone buys them. That’s by definition the case of what happens in an auction.
Ate there decades ago…wasn’t too memorable…i wish em good luck
Any idea what the purchase price was?
I am not sure if you are talking about Jay Fai but I hear she is closing her shop next year. I may have to visit it again before then.
Erica,
Thank you for the link to that wonderful Calvin Trillin article about R.W. Apple’s 70th birthday party. I remember reading it; however, that was almost 25 years ago and I had forgotten many of the delicious details.
Apple was a treasure and I loved reading his books and articles (both political and degustatory) . His description of a dinner at the original Auberge du Cep in Fluerie as “worth boarding a plane to visit,” inspired my husband and I to do just that.
Not only did we have one of the best meals of our lives, we discovered a delightful area of France that was ( and to this day still is) one of the most underrated parts of the country. This is not necessarily a bad thing because it keeps away the hoards of tourists.
Thanks for the memories.
