Stephen Starr Has Split With La Mercerie | Eater NY

"An all-day French restaurant inside Roman and Williams Guild, this 2017 collaboration with chef Marie-Aude Rose pairs a high-end design showroom with an ambitious kitchen. Early coverage framed it as a “fully staged fantasy of a Parisian cafe where everything on the table — from the $6 croissants to the $100-plus ceramics — was for sale.” Under Rose, it drew raves — former Eater critic Ryan Sutton called it “one of the most compelling Gallic spots of the past decade” — and it was a 2019 James Beard Awards finalist for outstanding design. The appeal hinged on the very expensive food as much as the room: a buckwheat crepe wrapped around creamy chicken and tarragon, a rare filet with cognac sauce, and an elaborate butter program — from seaweed butter served with icy Kushi oysters to lemon and buckwheat butters — that positioned it as more technical and ambitious than a typical all-day cafe. It also served as a precursor to New York’s restaurants-in-a-shop proliferation." - Melissa McCart