Recently the New York Times as well as Vogue magazine featured a piece about the iconic, old-school French restaurant, LE VEAU d’OR (golden calf), which opened in 1937 in New York City, remained in business for 54 years prior to closing during the pandemic, and in 2024 reopened under new ownership.
At its height of popularity, Le Veau d’Or was the celebrity hang-out for New York’s glitterati…think Jackie O, Marlene Dietrich, Ernest Hemingway, Oleg Cassini, Truman Capote, Orson Wells (who owned the building and lived upstairs), Grace Kelly, and Audrey Hepburn as well as other A-listers. I could go on, but you get the idea.
The beloved, 54-seat bistro was adorned with all things calf, including paintings of baby cows, calf plant holders on every table, calf matchbooks. The specialty of the house? Veal dishes ranging from roasted veal breast and blanquette de veau (veal stew with cream-laced egg-yolk), to veal liver and Veal Francaise, bathed in lemon butter. This was the place to indulge your taste for supremely tender calf flesh.
Earlier this year, chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr (the duo behind the ultra-hot brarsseries FRENCHETTE and LE ROCK) purchased the spot from its longtime owners, the Tréboux family, and lovingly restored the place, ushering in a new era with a $125 prix fixe menu that I assume varies from day to day or week to week.
The reborn Veau d’Or is reverential to the old classic French offerings, while giving the menu a gentle kick forward. Everything old is new again.
Along with dishes like rognon de veau (kidneys), veal osso buco, veau ravigot (head, cheeks, brains and tongue), veal sweetbreads (thymus glands), vol au vent (veal or chicken-filled crispy pastry shells), you’ll find dishes like duck breast with cherries, steak au poivre, slow-roasted chicken with morel mushrooms, and poached lobster Macedoine (a kind of salad),
But now…We need to talk about veal. No one likes to talk about the process between farm and fork.
The fact is that consumption of veal began during the ancient Roman Empire. As Rome conquered what is now France, veal became a delicacy there as well…a food for rich people.
Here in the states, it’s only become favored in the last few hundred years due to immigration…perhaps by mainly the Italians who tended to settle in metropolitan areas in the northeast…New York, Boston and Philly.
Over time, the consumption of veal has dwindled dramatically, and I mean DRAMATICALLY. Americans today consume only about 15% as much as we did just a quarter century ago. Why is that?
Well, I’m not smart enough to know the answer, but perhaps it’s generational. Perhaps people recoil at the idea of eating a baby animal, particularly cute ones. Moreover, the bigger the animal, the more sympathy we have. Nobody thinks twice about swatting a fly or setting a mousetrap, but calves are huggable and adorable.
Then again, we see lamb on restaurant menus (full grown, it’s called mutton)…and suckling pig…and chickens that are slaughtered at only 5 weeks old.
So why has veal become the poster child for animal cruelty in America? In the past, weren’t all veal calves raised humanely in the U.S.? The answer is NO.
Until about 10 years ago, newborn male dairy cows were frequently tethered to “crates” causing confinement, allowing little movement until “harvest” at about 20-24 weeks old. Back in the day, when we had PRONTO RISTORANTE, we used to sell the hell out of milk-fed Provimi veal. The formula the calves were fed, along with restricted muscle movement, kept the meat from getting darker as it grew older. Yikes.
But that was then, this is now.
Today the vast preponderance of veal – any veal that you would find in a restaurant or grocery store – is certified and highly regulated by the VEAL QUALITY ASSURANCE COUNCIL and the AMA, AMERICAN VEAL ASSOCIATION. Whole Foods is one of the biggest purchasers.
These organizations work to ensure that all crates are banned, that the calves roam free in a “buddy system” or in groups, and that they are free from discomfort, disease and distress.
So, if you are not a vegetarian or a vegan, enjoy your osso buco, your Viennese wienerschnitzel, your Italian cotoletta or your veal roast.
And if you are in the mood, have dinner at MANNY’S and order the VEAL CHOPS – I like mine Sicilian style, cooked medium rare – along with a bottle (or two) of Chianti Classico Reserva.
LIFE IS GOOD!
W.T.F.
PHIL