Indochine

How Indochine Became the Fashion World’s Go-To of the ’80s | Eater NY

"Opened in 1984 on gritty Lafayette Street, Indochine began when Brian McNally—guided by his then‑wife Anne’s concept modeled on Paris’s Au Coin des Gourmets—introduced a stylish French‑Vietnamese boîte whose banana‑leafed walls and runway‑ready crowd quickly made it a magnet for the art-and-celebrity set (Madonna, Andy Warhol, Jean‑Michel Basquiat, Mick Jagger and more). Although it was padlocked by the taxman in 1992, three staffers—busboy Huy Chi Le, manager Michael Callahan, and maître d’ Jean‑Marc Houmard—pooled their savings, renegotiated the lease (Le took over the kitchen, Callahan operations, Houmard front‑of‑house) and kept it alive; Houmard remains the face of the restaurant today. Several original dishes endure—Vietnamese ravioli, spring rolls, and fish steamed in banana leaf—while entrees that once cost $8–$12.75 now run $29–$55. I see it as a scene‑y Downtown institution that helped transfer cool to the neighborhood, encouraged a flamboyant and diverse front‑of‑house, spawned spin‑offs like BondSt, Acme, and the Nines, and continues to draw A‑listers (recently Pedro Almodóvar, Tilda Swinton, Victoria Beckham) because, as Houmard says, “the beauty of Indochine is that it’s not that different from 40 years ago.”" - Kathleen Squires