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| A Global Dining Empire Loses an Outpost | A Global Dining Empire Loses an Outpost |
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| BEIJING — The last meal at Maison Boulud in China, at least for now, was served on Sunday. | BEIJING — The last meal at Maison Boulud in China, at least for now, was served on Sunday. |
| The restaurant, run by the New York chef Daniel Boulud in the former American Embassy not far from Tiananmen Square, closed after five years, the victim of a falling out with Chinese partners and perhaps the staid habits of Beijing. | The restaurant, run by the New York chef Daniel Boulud in the former American Embassy not far from Tiananmen Square, closed after five years, the victim of a falling out with Chinese partners and perhaps the staid habits of Beijing. |
| At brunch on Sunday, patrons from 7 to 70 dined on golden chicken from Dongbei in northern China and plump shrimp from the Yellow Sea. Gray skies cast a soft light through tall windows into the dining room of the mansion, constructed in 1903 as one of the first Western-style buildings in Beijing, the capital. | |
| The guests, including women dressed in pearls and high heels, men in sweaters and jeans and two children, Audrey, 7, and Alex, 13, who with their mother, Ly Vu, have been frequent patrons, all gathered to say farewell. | The guests, including women dressed in pearls and high heels, men in sweaters and jeans and two children, Audrey, 7, and Alex, 13, who with their mother, Ly Vu, have been frequent patrons, all gathered to say farewell. |
| “We adore the restaurant, the ambience and the service,” said Mrs. Vu, a Vietnamese-American living in Beijing, as she and her children finished eating a chicken that had been carved at the table by the executive chef, Brian Reimer. “We love the juicy chicken with crispy skin,” she said. “The dining room is homey yet elegant. It’s very sad it is closing.” | |
| For Mr. Boulud’s dining empire, now at 13 restaurants, including establishments in Singapore, London and Toronto, a closing is unusual. A venture in Las Vegas shut in 2010 but another is set to open there, said Brett Traussi, director of operations for the Dinex Group, which manages the Boulud gourmet brand. | For Mr. Boulud’s dining empire, now at 13 restaurants, including establishments in Singapore, London and Toronto, a closing is unusual. A venture in Las Vegas shut in 2010 but another is set to open there, said Brett Traussi, director of operations for the Dinex Group, which manages the Boulud gourmet brand. |
| Beijing is known as a tough restaurant town, a place of politicians and bureaucrats, banquet halls and back-room deals. Shanghai is China’s boisterous city, still nurturing the traditions left over from the Europeans who lived and played there in the 1920s and ‘30s. | |
| Along the Bund in Shanghai, at least five European restaurants, lavishly decorated and with sparkling views of the Huangpu River, vie for expense account customers. In Beijing, where foreign diplomats are penurious and government officials prefer Chinese restaurants, there were three distinguished Western eateries. Now there are two. | |
| “Shanghai is pragmatic, moves faster and is more business-focused,” said Michelle Garnaut, chief executive of the M Restaurant Group, which runs M on the Bund in Shanghai, and Capital M, one of the surviving Western-style restaurants in Beijing. | |
| “Let’s hope Boulud finds somewhere else in Beijing,” Ms. Garnaut said. “It has been an excellent restaurant.” | |
| Mr. Boulud has not given up on the Beijing restaurant scene. “Our partners have other ambitions for the building,” he said in a telephone interview from Lyon, France. “Beijing is becoming a very cool place. I’ve always liked Beijing. I want the setup to be right, the partners to be right.” | Mr. Boulud has not given up on the Beijing restaurant scene. “Our partners have other ambitions for the building,” he said in a telephone interview from Lyon, France. “Beijing is becoming a very cool place. I’ve always liked Beijing. I want the setup to be right, the partners to be right.” |
| Acquiring the ingredients for a Western menu was one of the great challenges in Beijing, he said. Many were imported: beef from Australia, salmon from Alaska, oil and vinegar from Hong Kong. He was delighted to find yellow-skinned chicken from Dongbei that came close to the stronger taste of the free-range poultry of the Landes region of France. | Acquiring the ingredients for a Western menu was one of the great challenges in Beijing, he said. Many were imported: beef from Australia, salmon from Alaska, oil and vinegar from Hong Kong. He was delighted to find yellow-skinned chicken from Dongbei that came close to the stronger taste of the free-range poultry of the Landes region of France. |
| But a few items, including some herbs, were impossible to find. Thyme, rosemary and basil could be grown fresh in the kitchen. Chervil and tarragon plants proved too delicate to flourish. Dried tarragon was the only solution. | But a few items, including some herbs, were impossible to find. Thyme, rosemary and basil could be grown fresh in the kitchen. Chervil and tarragon plants proved too delicate to flourish. Dried tarragon was the only solution. |
| Maison Boulud had a certain cachet because of its home in the two-story structure that served as the American Embassy; it was one of the first buildings in the capital to use imported steel and lumber from the United States. | Maison Boulud had a certain cachet because of its home in the two-story structure that served as the American Embassy; it was one of the first buildings in the capital to use imported steel and lumber from the United States. |
| Newspaper accounts from the period note that Sidney H. Nealy, an architect for the State Department, designed the chancery, separate residences, servants’ quarters and an ice factory. “These buildings are such as might be put up in Washington for a similar purpose,” said an article in The Washington Post. “They are in every respect first-class gray brick and granite structures with every modern improvement.” The article said Mr. Nealy learned “enough of the language to handle the native laborers,” who “had to be taught in an American way.” | Newspaper accounts from the period note that Sidney H. Nealy, an architect for the State Department, designed the chancery, separate residences, servants’ quarters and an ice factory. “These buildings are such as might be put up in Washington for a similar purpose,” said an article in The Washington Post. “They are in every respect first-class gray brick and granite structures with every modern improvement.” The article said Mr. Nealy learned “enough of the language to handle the native laborers,” who “had to be taught in an American way.” |
| When the Communists took power in 1949, the embassy, set on a square known as the Legation Quarter, became the property of the government. Before the 2008 Olympics, developers leased the chancery and the accompanying buildings and renovated them for commercial use in what was planned as a plaza of restaurants and galleries. | When the Communists took power in 1949, the embassy, set on a square known as the Legation Quarter, became the property of the government. Before the 2008 Olympics, developers leased the chancery and the accompanying buildings and renovated them for commercial use in what was planned as a plaza of restaurants and galleries. |
| The interior of the chancery, where the Maison Boulud dining room is on the first floor, retains much of its original look. The white carved banister of the staircase, the black and white marble floors in the bar area and broad beam timber floors in banquet rooms upstairs are still intact. | The interior of the chancery, where the Maison Boulud dining room is on the first floor, retains much of its original look. The white carved banister of the staircase, the black and white marble floors in the bar area and broad beam timber floors in banquet rooms upstairs are still intact. |
| A large room at the back of the lobby, now swathed in red wallpaper, was described by the restaurant as the place where Henry A. Kissinger and Zhou Enlai met secretly in 1971 to plan President Richard M. Nixon’s visit to China the following year. | A large room at the back of the lobby, now swathed in red wallpaper, was described by the restaurant as the place where Henry A. Kissinger and Zhou Enlai met secretly in 1971 to plan President Richard M. Nixon’s visit to China the following year. |
| In fact, those meetings took place at the Diaoyutai State Guest House compound some distance from the old American Embassy, said Winston Lord, who participated in the 48 hours of talks as an aide to Mr. Kissinger. Mr. Lord later became United States ambassador to China. | In fact, those meetings took place at the Diaoyutai State Guest House compound some distance from the old American Embassy, said Winston Lord, who participated in the 48 hours of talks as an aide to Mr. Kissinger. Mr. Lord later became United States ambassador to China. |
| “We left Diaoyutai once — for a secret tour of the Forbidden City, followed by a secret lunch with Zhou Enlai in the Great Hall of the People,” Mr. Lord said. | “We left Diaoyutai once — for a secret tour of the Forbidden City, followed by a secret lunch with Zhou Enlai in the Great Hall of the People,” Mr. Lord said. |
| But if the legend of the Kissinger-Zhou meeting turned out not to be accurate, there are many memories to cherish for the Maison Boulud archives, some of them quintessential Beijing. | But if the legend of the Kissinger-Zhou meeting turned out not to be accurate, there are many memories to cherish for the Maison Boulud archives, some of them quintessential Beijing. |
| Not long after the restaurant opened, a successful Chinese businessman from a coal-mining region in Shanxi Province hosted a dinner for a dozen guests. He ordered the best vintage French burgundies and the most expensive dishes, Mr. Reimer, the chef, said. | Not long after the restaurant opened, a successful Chinese businessman from a coal-mining region in Shanxi Province hosted a dinner for a dozen guests. He ordered the best vintage French burgundies and the most expensive dishes, Mr. Reimer, the chef, said. |
| When the $23,000 bill arrived, the businessman called his driver, who delivered two bags filled with Chinese bank notes to the table to pay the tab. | When the $23,000 bill arrived, the businessman called his driver, who delivered two bags filled with Chinese bank notes to the table to pay the tab. |
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: | |
| Correction: December 11, 2013 | |
An earlier version of this article misidentified the river that runs alongside the Bund in Shanghai. It is the Huangpu, not the Yangtze. |