It was perhaps inevitable. Ten years after Philippe Masson forcibly took over La Grenouille—the Midtown New York restaurant of infinite charm, grace, and floral beauty—from his older brother, Charles, a closing notice was posted to Instagram just one week before the restaurant’s annual summer holiday was to end on September 19.
Pretty much everything about Philippe’s tenure was clumsy—the bric-a-brac, the dust collecting on faded upholstery, and most notably the amplifier he installed on a cheap parquet stage where a Kiwanis-club spotlight forced dinner guests to look at Philippe as he crooned Sinatra-era songs four nights a week. Even lunch at La Grenouille, long one of the greatest workday treats in the city, no longer offered a refuge after Philippe did away with it.
