Family feud at La Grenouille has devoted regulars saying adieu

Mon dieu! Regulars at La Grenouille, the 52-year-old, gold-walled bastion of classic French cuisine, arent taking well to the restaurants new management.

On March 22, Charles Masson Jr., the restaurants debonair proprietor for most of the past 40 years, like his father before him, abruptly announced that he would no longer be working there, amid family feuding with his mother and brother. Now, Charles younger brother, Philippe, is at the helm, and some La Grenouille regulars loyal to Charles say the place has taken a dclass downturn.

Now that [Charles is] gone, the flowers arent up to snuff, and the brother looks more like a bouncer than a host, says Mario Buatta, 78, an interior decorator who lives on the Upper East Side and has been frequenting La Grenouille with clients since the 70s. Social people who have gone for years and years are refusing to go back. Its very sad.

The difference in sartorial style between the Masson brothers has become a major topic of conversation among La Grenouilles well-heeled clientele.

My friends were saying they were horrified by the way Philippe dressed, says Tony Cointreau, author and heir to the Cointreau liquor fortune.

Did you see the shoes Philippe was wearing? gasps one former regular in the finance industry.

He had an ill-fitting sports jacket that looked like it had been in his closet from college, scoffs an art world attorney. Charles was always in a beautiful suit.

Philippe defends his fashion choices, saying, I wear a suit and tie like Charles does.

Some former clientele plan to stop going to La Grenouille altogether. David Patrick Columbia, the 60-something editor of the New York Social Diary Web site, says he went to the restaurant a few weeks ago because of a prior dinner obligation, but isnt planning on returning anytime soon.

I dont want to go back, says Columbia, who estimates that hes been going to La Grenouille for 30 years. Its like I lost a friend, and you cant replace that with a person who is not a friend. Charles is an artist, and everything in the place is his creation. Philippe is the baby in the family, and he looks like it next to his brother.

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Family feud at La Grenouille has devoted regulars saying adieu