Regular readers of this blog will recall that we have some very dear friends in Paris: Isabelle, Majo her mother, and François her son. No trip to Paris would be complete without at least spending a few hours with them and enjoying a meal together.
So on our first full day in Paris we met up to knock around and catch up. One of the places we stopped to see was the restaurant which Majo’s father had owned when she was growing up. Turns out this was a fairly historic restaurant called Lapérouse.
Pictured here in front of Lapérouse (from left) is Majo, Isabelle, Jeff, and François.
La Maison Lapérouse was established in 1766 by Lefèvre, King’s Louis XV’s minister for cafes, who turned the site into a “wine merchant”. The destruction of the adjacent Convent of the Great Augustins, and the construction on that site of a market specializing in the trade of poultry and game, made his establishment famous for the quality of the dishes served there. The restaurant was as much frequented by the agents of the market as by their employees and their customers. It was a place of great feasts and cheerful drinking.
Crime was rampant at the time, and with all the transactions being made in cash, Lefèvre had a genius idea: offer his clientele the rooms of servants on the first floor so that they can handle their accounts with the greatest discretion. The famous little salons of Lapérouse were born.
By 1850, success was at its peak. Customers told the new owner, Jules Lapérouse, to decorate the small salons which became extremely popular with discrete diners. Auguste Escoffier, “cook of kings and king of cooks”, took the reins of the kitchens. It was then that Lapérouse began to symbolize the highest in French gastronomy.
By 1870 the place quickly became the rendezvous of the literary Tout-Paris. Guy de Maupassant, Emile Zola, Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo, one of whose salons bears his name, hurried to the doors of the restaurant. Many politicians, such as Joseph Caillaux and Raymond Poincaré, took advantage of the confidentiality of the premises to hold their meetings. The international elite also found their way to 51 Quai des Grands Augustins. The Duke of Windsor, Princess Margaret and the Aga Khan each took advantage of their visits to Paris to reserve a table at Lapérouse.
Over 30 years later, Marius Topolinski who was a good cook and born in Annecy, started working with François Bise at Hotel Angleterre in Annecy. Marius then left for Paris where he met Germaine Lacrose (his future wife) and became the associate of his father-in-law who had owned Lapérouse since 1907.
After the death of his father Marius in 1924 and his mother Germaine in 1926, Roger Topolinski took over and it became a restaurant with a sterling reputation. The Guide Michelin gave Lapérouse 3 stars in 1933 and again in 1951 after the war which he kept until 1968 with chefs Charles Delorme and Fernand Poisson.
With his wife Henriette, and the great team who worked with his father, Roger retained the well known recipes created by his father such as gratin de langoustines, caneton Colette, and crepes Mona.
Roger remained at the restaurant until 1974 and died in 1995 at 90 years of age.
Isabelle’s mother, Marie José (Majo), was born in the apartment above Lapérouse. Roger and Henriette were her parents and Majo shared with us many fond memories of life around Lapérouse as she grew up.
The restaurant was known for its secluded dining and so couples would seek out the restaurant’s dining cabins for their privacy. Waiters were required to jiggle the doorknob a few minutes before entering so that the couples could compose themselves for the waiter.
Lapérouse was also known as a place for men to propose to their girlfriends. The dining salons created in the mid-19th century were lined with mirrors and the girls would scratch their freshly received diamonds on the mirrors to make sure they were real. The mirrors were entirely scratched from this practice over the years.
In 1972, Roger presented the nine year old Isabelle – his granddaughter – with a signed copy of the Lapérouse menu.
And here is the menu from 1972!
Today the restaurant still stands in the original spot, although it’s no longer a 3 Star Michelin restaurant as it was when Roger Topolinski owned it. We’re thrilled that Majo and Isabelle shared these memories with us and hope you enjoyed them as well.
