Pioneering NYC Restaurateur Serge Raoul Has Died at 86

Serge Raoul, the co-founder of the legendary Soho restaurant, Raoul’s, has died at the age of 86, at his home in Nyack, New York. Raoul’s son, Karim, confirmed to Eater that he passed early in the morning on Friday, March 8, due to glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer.

Raoul was born in 1937 in Alsace, France, in the town of Altkirch, where his parents owned a café that catered to cement factory workers. He moved to Paris in 1953 and embarked on a career as a sound technician for French radio. While in Paris, he won a contest to work at the United Nations, which brought him to New York City in 1962. After a year, he was sent to set up a radio station in Kenya, where he stayed until 1965. He came back to New York to work as a correspondent for French television, covering all major news events from 1965 to 1975.

An accomplished documentarian, Raoul returned to Kenya in 1975 to make a film about the Maasai tribe. While there, he contracted hepatitis and returned to New York on sick leave. That same year, his brother Guy Raoul joined him in New York and the duo co-founded Raoul’s in the then gritty neighborhood of Soho. Guy, an accomplished chef, ran the kitchen, while Serge looked after the front-of-house.

Although Serge always thought he would return to work in French television, and though he continued to make films, he thrived as a restaurateur. Raoul’s instantly became a hangout for Serge’s colleagues in the French press; artists such as Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol; Wall Streeters; models, and A-list celebrities. In addition to becoming a gossip column favorite, Raoul’s was the center of Downtown nightlife, a place where patrons could enjoy classic French dishes, such as their famous steak au poivre, along with an edgy late-night scene, when beloved maître d’ Rob Jones would perform in drag on top of the bar.

“A perfectionist: He was always on us to do the job right, which is still reflected in how the place is run today,” said Raoul’s maître d’, Eddie Hudson, who first met and began working for Raoul in 1979. “He was a taskmaster; he could be gruff but he also had a very soft and spiritual side. People will remember him for his charm.” Hudson credits Raoul for creating “the magic in the room at Raoul’s. He is responsible for the look and feel that made everyone want to come there. He put SoHo on the map as a dining destination.”

Raoul liked to mentor chefs from his homeland. He met Alain Eigenmann, chef at Nyack’s Brasserie D, through a mutual friend in Alsace almost 40 years ago. “He told me, ‘You can come to the US to work at any time,’” Eigenmann recalled. “He was shocked when I showed up two weeks later.”

Raoul immediately brought him on in the kitchen. “There is a reason that his restaurant has survived nearly 50 years. Serge was a visionary and a creator,” Eigenmann said. He also described Raoul as someone who loved personality and challenges. “He knew good food and good chefs. He discovered Thomas Keller.”

Keller first came to Raoul’s in 1981. Raoul hired him on the spot on a gut feeling. Recognizing Keller’s extraordinary talent, Raoul soon sent him to live in Paris for two years to enhance his skills. After his return to the States in 1985, Raoul partnered with Keller on Rakel, a fine-dining restaurant with a portmanteau name (Raoul + Keller) that reflected their partnership. Rakel, which opened in 1986, was hailed as “one of the handsomest and most provocative restaurants in the Soho area,” by New York Times critic Bryan Miller. Often referred to as “ahead of its time,” Rakel closed in 1990 when the financial crash brought an end to the partnership.

Keller posted a tribute to Raoul on Instagram: “His passing is a profound personal loss for me .... He transformed the trajectory of my life and made me the chef I am today. He took a chance on me, hired me at Raoul’s, and encouraged me to continue training beyond his kitchen in France. When I returned to New York, Serge became my partner at Rakel … my first restaurant in NYC. Early on in my career, I had many failures and challenges, and Rakel was one of them. Yet, even when it closed, Serge continued to believe in me. I will remember him with great fondness and honor his loyalty….I will miss him deeply.”

Chef and television host, Andrew Zimmern, who frequented Raoul’s and worked with Raoul at Rakel, told Eater, “I will always remember his style, his fastidiousness, his devotion to what was classic, his wry sense of humor, but mostly his creativity. His restaurant existed before the McNally brothers’ restaurants; it existed before all the other New York-style French bistros. I think he deserves a lot of credit for creating a style of restaurant here in America that has been often copied but rarely, if ever, duplicated.”

Raoul opened restaurants in Bali and Nyack and he also owned a hotel in New Mexico. In 2014, his son, Karim, took over the operations at the original Raoul’s, at 180 Prince Street, at Sullivan Street, where his father’s legacy remains. The restaurant will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.

Serge Raoul is survived by his son, Karim Raoul, his daughter-in-law, Jillian Fracassi, his grandchildren, Amelie and Rêve Raoul, and his brother, Guy Raoul.