Still the Boss of Le Bernardin, Maguy Le Coze Strides On

The photographs alongside this story are nothing short of splendid.

I have had the pleasure of dining at LeBernadin over the years while visiting New York. It is a very special restaurant and after reading your story , it is easy to understand why.Both partners expect perfection and the meals and experience are! It is one of the few great restaurants where there is no snobbery. When you taste the food ,you have to stop and savor each taste!!Even the first time visitor is treated as a regularMay LeB sail forever!!

My parents took me to Le Bernardin the year after it opened. I was 22. I had had nice meals at "fancy" restaurants but this meal blew my mind. It was the kind of meal where you feel like you're tasting something (in this case, fish) for the first time, even though you've been eating it for years. Two years later, I ended up going to cooking school to become a pastry chef. Did I mention the desserts were fantastic, too?

She is truly a star of the food world. To maintain or even improve the quality of the restaurant after her brother’s untimely death was such a feat and it was her achievement. Le Bernardin is fabulous and beautiful yet understated. It is our favorite restaurant in NYC for a special meal.

I recall learning in 1989 that the place was already having fish from Sea of Japan FedEx overnighted. Live fish packed in ice would arrive 18 hours after being hauled from the ocean. Wow.

OMG she is gorgeous! That hair! That smile! She is a picture of perfection. I love her personal style as well as her professional style. I shall dine at Le Bernardin one day.

So great to see an article by our best food writer -- Alan Richman -- about one of our unsung titans of gastronomy. Vive la France! Vive la Le Coze!

I love this article and I am fascinated by this amazing woman. I realize that many Americans can't handle the French way of life and living, but I, for one, am proud to covet it for our own country. I have eaten at Le Bernardin on three occasions while visiting Manhattan in the past four years. It is a remarkable restaurant with extraordinary food and style.

What a stylish, fascinating lady! I love Maguy Le Coze’s deep-felt honesty and her dedication to excellence. No excuses, no fuss. I will try Le Bernardin on my upcoming visit to New York.

There is no mention of Cafe Le Coze in Atlanta

I have eaten at Le Bernadin several times in New York and always had a superb meal. We did eat in the Paris restaurant twice. Once was terrific but on the other time the service and food were off. Unfortunately it literally was the night the New York restaurant was opening. Everyone important must have been there. PB

Please, what is she wearing (designer) in the black and whtie dress in the main photo? We had the pleasure of dining in the Paris restaurant, and had several wonderful meals in NYC. Compliments!

For an article ostensibly about a notable female success in an overwhelmingly male industry, this whole thing is a sexist mess. The author repeatedly implies that women may choose to exempt themselves from a system that inherently diminishes them (“When they see I am 73, they will say the boss is old,” Ms. Le Coze said ... They will not, of course, say anything of the sort, not to a woman so regal, so formidable, so unbending — and so charming when she chooses to be."), and he does not analyze or push back on any of Ms. Le Coze's own internalized misogyny, the "wife"-ish support she gave to her brother, or examine why it may be that a woman we're holding up as a unique success is also one who eschewed a traditional family. Wildly disappointed by this, NYT. You can do so much better.

Sexual harrassment does not occur when there is strength of character. She runs her life the way she runs her restaurant--with precision.

This woman needs a biography a la "My Life in France."

My sister was an assistant to Francois Payard, when Daniel Boulud was head chef. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the kitchen and meet the chefs along the way. I also had the joy of attending the restaurants’ summer outing in 1990—a clambake at a farm in Duchess County—where I also met Maguy and Gilbert. My sister and I also grew up in a steep tradition of food culture and the four of us shared some lovely moments recounting growing up as brother-sister friends, precision in the kitchen, and the difference between cooking. I think it was Gilbert who said cooking is like painting and baking actually chemistry. I left that day with a crush on Maguy and the feeling that Gilbert was somehow larger than life. The restaurant they loved so much was (always has been) a business, but it’s a way of life—a citadel of culinary craftsmanship. Thank you for this careful and lovely story.

Decades ago when we were young and new to New York, my wife and I were taken to dinner at Le Bernardin by a business associate. Our spirits--and our dining standards--were instantly elevated by the delicious food, wonderful ambience and excellent service. Even when we were no longer New Yorkers we planned our visits to include lunch or dinner at Le Bernardin, always a treat. Yes, New York has many fine restaurants, but Le Bernardin will always be at the top of our list. Our heartfelt thanks to Ms. Le Coze, Mr. Ripert and the rest of the LB team.

The story omits the too-brief phase of Brasserie LaCoze behind the Mayfair in Miami in the late '80s. Ahead of the curve in Miami by a decade, I miss it today-- classic menu,value wines and Maguy's gracious hostess' presence were modest forerunners to le Bernardin's crowning success in NYC soon thereafter. Miami needs a major French presence today.

“If she is eating,” he said, “she will always choose the dish that is not the best. Bingo, she orders it. If she goes into the bathroom, it will be right after a client throws paper on the floor. She always arrives at the moment when something is wrong. I don’t know how she does it.” Maybe there's always something wrong?

She appears to be of formidable character and with a backbone. Sigh! I wish she could run for President! I'll bet running the country would be a piece of cake after Le Bernardin!

When we are in NYC, we eat lunch at Le Bernardin almost every day. It doesn't get any better in Manhattan.

Le Bernadin has to be in the best restaurant in New York City. I have been there 3 times in my life and each time was extraordinary. Hats off to Gilbert and Maguy!

I recall eating there once in the early years when Ms. Le Coze was in the dining room. As she walked by our table she noticed that some piece of silverware was not the correct one for what we had ordered and swiftly the staff removed it and replaced it with the proper one. Formidable!

I ate there once in the late 80s. It was OK. Fish I think.

Someone with high standards. And spunk. Uncompromising in maintaining the excellence of Le Bernardin. Hopefully there will be many more years of food and service at this NY landmark restaurant.

Kudos, applause, and salute to Mme Le Coze for having succeeded in creating an excellent restaurant in the gastronomic industry, traditionally dominated by males.

I was fortunate enough to do my externship from New York Restaurant School in the kitchen of Le Bernardin in the mid-1990s. I rarely saw Ms. LeCoze, but her presence was palpable. It was a tight ship. Back then, the kitchen, under Chef Eric, was gender-equality heaven; when I arrived, the saucier and tournant--quite high positions in the brigade--were both women. As a commis, I never experienced any problems. But as I remember, front of house had no women, or maybe only a couple at most. Interesting that should have been the case. Some restaurant traditions take longer to dispel than others, no matter who is leading.