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Just one year after its highly anticipated revival, Le Veau d’Or has landed in the top 10 of a new continent-wide ranking: The World’s 50 Best just named it the 10th best restaurant in North America.
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The announcement came this week at a red carpet-style ceremony in Las Vegas, marking the debut of the organization’s North America list—a new regional offshoot of its global restaurant awards. The rankings span the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean, with the top spot going to Atomix in NYC.For Le Veau d’Or, which first opened in 1937 and sat dormant for five years until reopening in 2024, the recognition caps off a remarkable return. The restaurant was brought back to life by Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, the chefs behind Frenchette and Le Rock, who have built a reputation for breathing fresh energy into classic French cooking.
According to The World’s 50 Best, Hanson and Nasr have honored the restaurant’s legacy while subtly modernizing its approach. The signature red banquettes, warm wood paneling, and brass accents remain intact, evoking a nostalgic Parisian charm that’s rare in today’s dining scene. The kitchen now turns out a $125 prix fixe menu featuring refined versions of timeless dishes like pâté en croûte, roasted chicken with tarragon, and apple tart. A two-course lunch option was recently added, and guests can bring their own wine for a corkage fee if they don’t want to choose from the 100-bottle natural wine list curated by Jorge Riera.
This isn’t Hanson and Nasr’s first brush with critical acclaim. Frenchette won a James Beard Award in 2019, just a year after opening. But reviving Le Veau d’Or was more than another feather in their toque—it was a long-held passion project. The pair first reached out to Catherine Treboux, the restaurant’s longtime owner, nearly a decade ago. Treboux, whose father Robert ran Le Veau d’Or for decades, ultimately agreed to partner with them after Frenchette’s success.
“We said instantly that we would take it on,” Nasr told the New York Post. “It is a project and a place that we love and we felt we could do something fun and good there.”
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Treboux’s son, Derek Summerlin, now serves as the maître d’, and the kitchen is helmed by Jeff Teller, formerly of the Waverly Inn and Frenchette. Together, the team has revived not just a restaurant, but a piece of Upper East Side history. Once a favorite of figures like Truman Capote, Grace Kelly, and Orson Welles, Le Veau d’Or is once again a place to see and be seen—only now, it’s earned a spot among the continent’s culinary elite.Le Veau d’Or is located at 129 East 60th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues. Reservations can be made on their website.
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