Famed NYC French bistro La Ripaille bids adieu after more than four decades: ‘Time to pass the torch’
A famed French restaurant in the West Village will soon serve its last appetizer of escargots as the eatery’s owner retires after more than four decades, Side Dish has learned.
La Ripaille – which has attracted celebs and francophiles alike since 1980, long before the neighborhood turned trendy – has been put up for sale along with the building that houses the restaurant at 605 Hudson St., chef-owner Alain Laurent said in an exclusive interview.
“It’s time to pass the torch,” the 70-year-old Frenchman explained. “To run a restaurant for 44 years is tiring.”
Over the years, Laurent’s famed guest book has been signed by a who’s who of luminaries.
Leo DiCaprio, Anne Hathaway and Sylvester Stallone, soccer legend Pelé and baseball great Derek Jeter, pop star Madonna and author Salmon Rushdie have all at one time squeezed into the quaint restaurant, which features 14 tables holding around 40 seats.
The name, La Ripaille, comes from an old French expression, “faire ripaille,” which means to feast. And that’s what diners have done on dishes that included Laurent’s original creation — broccoli mousse.
Other divine menu options include traditional cassoulet, escargots Laurent’s way — out of the shell with basil, cream, tomato and butter — along with wild mushroom flambee in cognac under a pastry puff, ravioli de homard, branzino with ginger, and, of course, the filet mignon au poivre et frites.
But the day-to-day grind of running the busy restaurant took its toll on Laurent and his family, he said.
“I was at the restaurant six, seven days a week, and on all the holidays, including Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, and now I’d like to have a different version of my future with my wife, my kids and my [seven-month old] grandson,” Laurent said.
“I had hoped my kids would take it over, but they saw the sacrifice it took and say they will never do it.”
Laurent started his career in banking. But after his brother followed his then-girlfriend to New York, Laurent came to visit. He loved French food, so he started to work at French restaurants — first as a busboy, then as a waiter.
“It was very exhilarating,” Laurent said. “Then I thought, if I can work for someone else, I think I can do it for myself. I was with my brother. We started to look for a place. When we found this, I said, ‘This is it!'”
The West Village was a different place when Laurent first opened La Rapaille, with the nearby Meatpacking District run down and filled with prostitutes.
The restaurant slowly gained a following through word of mouth. Then came the reviews. The first was from New York magazine, and they took off from there.
He bought the five-story building that houses the restaurant, along with 10 rental units above it, for $900,000 in 1986.
Now, Laurent put the 10,124 square-foot property on the market for $17 million, according to his brokers.
Laurent’s neighbors have included billionaire Mets owner and hedge fund titan Steve Cohen, who lived in a triplex next door at 607 Hudson Street before he sold it for $30 million in 2019. (It sold again for $33.5 million in 2021.)
Bravo’s Andy Cohen lives nearby, and is often spotted lunching at La Rapaille with his BFF, Sarah Jessica Parker.
Whoever buys the building will get a prime West Village mixed-use building facing Abington Square that is also close to Google’s headquarters and Hudson River Park, as well as art galleries and the Whitney Museum.
“I think it would make a great private members club,” said Laurie Cooper, who is the co-listing broker along with Daniela Rivoir and Michael Cooper, all of Douglas Elliman.
