Le Tou Va Bien, one of Hell's Kitchen's oldest French restaurants, will reopen today (Thursday) after a three-year closure. Vincent Caro, the new owner of this traditional bistro staple on his W 51st Street location between Eighth Avenue and his Ninth Avenue, is starting the next chapter at the establishment, which opened in 1949. I am excited.
Le Tou Va Bien, which means “all is well” in French, closed in the summer of 2020. W42ST first heard about the store's return in January, when Vincent's received approval for a liquor license from Manhattan Community Board 4.
Much of the interior has been renovated, including the floors, ceiling and bar, preserving its old charm. Vintage French posters line the walls, next to crimson banquets with new shapes and covers.
The menu includes classic French dishes with a French-American twist, as well as crepes on weekends. For the first few weeks, the restaurant will be open for dinner from 4pm to 11pm, but will then expand to include weekend brunch.
On Wednesday afternoon, Vincent and his wife Emilia Caro were busy preparing for the store's opening. Carpenters, cooks, and other workers hurried back and forth, bringing in boxes, testing telephones, sweeping floors.
“I hope it's successful and that we can bring back the fun and good atmosphere that used to be here,” said Vincent, who worked as a waiter and bartender at Le Tout Va Bien from 2007 to 2012, shortly after arriving in New York. said. A city in Brittany, France.
“I'm very excited because I spent most of my best years in New York working here,” Vincent said. “This place means a lot to me.”
Vincent was also the owner of Bistro Eloise in Jackson Heights and had two other restaurants in Astoria (Chez Olivia) and Sunnyside (Cote Soleil), which are now closed. He approached his former owner after Le Tout Va Bien closed and completed the purchase of the bistro last summer.
Emilia said she is looking forward to the opening. “I'm really excited because I know the neighborhood has been waiting for this for a while. I understand how it feels to lose a good restaurant, but for everyone who had a connection here, I'm really excited about it. It’s very special to have it back,” she said.
The community is also thriving. Reacting to the news of the reopening on Instagram, a user wrote on Tuesday, “I love this restaurant!” My husband and I dated here for weeks before we got married!!!🥰💞❤️. ”
Le Tout Va Bien has passed through several hands over the past 75 years. In 1998, the New York Times reported that Nina and Carlo Migliaccio owned and lived above the bistro. They sold it to Frenchman Jean-Pierre Touchard, who treated him “like a son.”
Continuing the restaurant's tradition is “a challenge and a motivation,” Vincent said. “We want to continue down the same path. We hope the restaurant will be here for at least another 50 years.”
