Under Mr. Briguet, Le Périgord turned into a circle of relatives affair. His spouse labored with him there, as did their son Christopher, who was once a supervisor for 30 years. Ms. Le Gall, too, labored on the eating place, for 10 years, in conjunction with Eric, Jean-Luc, who’s an architect, and a grandson.
“You have to love what you do,” Mr. Briguet advised Crain’s New York Business in 2004. “This is my life.”
Le Périgord, at 405 East 52nd, on a dead-end phase of the road simply east of First Avenue, was once opened in 1962 as La Provence by means of a German chef. It was once quickly taken over by means of Ferdinand Desbans, who was once from the Périgord area of France and who were chef to the grandfather of Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Mr. Briguet and a industry spouse, Willy Krause, purchased the eating place in 1964, however didn’t forestall there. In 1969 they opened Le Périgord Park, a sister eating place at Park Avenue and East 63rd Street; it closed in 1985. With Jean-Louis Missud, they opened La Reserve at Rockefeller Center in 1983; it closed in 2000.
In 2015, Mr. Briguet pleaded to blame to a federal tax fees and paid the federal government just about $170,000 in restitution after admitting that he had concealed source of revenue in Swiss financial institution accounts. That identical 12 months, an worker sued the eating place for unpaid wages in a case that was once settled for $90,000.
Two years later, Mr. Briguet failed to succeed in an settlement with the eating place employees union and, having became 80, closed the eating place, stowing his 17 tuxedos. By his estimate he had served 3 million foods there. Today, the distance stays vacant.