Benoit's Le Officine
Dining at Chef Alain Ducasse's bistro Benoit in New York City is an excellent place to go with a group of friends but to make it even more posh you might want to reserve Le Officine, a private dining salon inside the restaurant. The restaurant mirrors the original Benoit in Paris, which opened in 1912 and serves French bistro classics drawn from Benoit's repertoire of 50 to 100 year old recipes.
Le Officine seats just ten people and is a small room covered in walnut paneling. According to the NY Sun's article on this room, it is a reconstruction of a French herbalist's shop, circa 1830. The entire dismantled shop was bought by Ducasse who had it restored and reassembled. The original porcelain nameplates on the cabinets identifying the herbs are still in place and Ducasse has added his own touches including a collection of old salmon poachers and an arrangement of white porcelain apples and garlic plants. The room's ends are anchored by mural sized photographs of Paris.
