L’Abeille is a fine-dining French restaurant in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood that was born out of the pandemic.
Rahul Saito and his husband, a silent partner in the business, were a well-traveled couple whose careers had been in finance. With everything closed in the city during lockdown, they hired personal chefs, both to cook for them and to give the chefs some work during those lean times.
They were big fans of chef Mistunobu Nagae, who had cooked at the short-lived fine-dining restaurant Shun in Midtown as well as L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in the Meatpacking District.
“We hired [Nagae] to cook for us once or twice a week,” Saito said.
Nagae was considering going back to Japan, but Saito persuaded him to stay by opening a restaurant for him.
L’Abeille debuted in March 2022 as a 20-seat fine-dining restaurant offering tasting menus only, currently priced at $245 per person for a 10-course meal, or $185 for six courses.
When the space next door became available, they opened L’Abeille à Côté, which literally means “L’Abeille next door,” a 48-seat restaurant serving a more modest three-course prix-fixe menu. Both served Nagae’s version of Japanese-influenced French cuisine.
Nagae also is an investor in both properties.
Saito’s company, Kuma Hospitality, also operates Sushi Ichimura, which opened in June of 2023, highlighting the skills of Eiji Ichimura, a former chef of the late David Bouley’s now-shuttered Brushstroke restaurant. Kuma recently announced that the restaurant would close this summer, with future plans for the space still to be determined.
L’Abeille à Côté has recently changed its format into an à la carte concept offering playful takes on the Japanese food Nagae enjoyed growing up in Osaka, as well as takes on perennial city favorites.
Those favorites include oysters with mignonette and cucumber relish for $28, hummus made with chargrilled edamame instead of chickpeas garnished with chive oil and served with crudités for $18, and tuna tataki with apple and hibiscus tosazu vinegar for $28.
Nagae is also offering what he calls “Sushi Italiano,” which is Prosciutto and sushi-style pickled ginger on warm sushi rice for $24.
In the childhood-memories department is a dish called Osaka Memories made with honeycomb tripe and root vegetables for $30, grilled nagaimo sweet potatoes for $22, and a bone-in tonkatsu heritage pork cutlet for $46.
A Japanese ground beef curry is playfully served with a bear-shaped rice cake arranged so it looks like the bear is tucked under the sauce and ready for bed, so it’s called Bear in a Blanket. It’s priced at $36.
Other dishes include black cod in a shiso sauce for $42 and a sandwich of breaded and fried mahi mahi with smoked tartar sauce for $38.
Saito said the change has been well received.
“It’s going very well. People are happy … instead of having a three-course meal, this gives people more options to choose from.”
He said the change also has given Nagae the ability to flex different culinary muscles, as opposed to the previous menu, which was more like “L’Abeille light.”
“It’s completely different from what is being served next door, but we’re making all these dishes with the same techniques, quality, and precision as L’Abeille,” Saito said.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
