BEAUTY issue
aRUDE comment
ONLINE content
ART & ARCHITECTURE
Questions for Bassam Fellows interview Iké Udé
BON APPÉTIT
Lucien interview Danielle Brown
BUSINESS OFF THE WALL
Questions For Aaron Schwartz
FASHION
Badgley Mischka interview Iké Udé
La Vie En Rose photography Andrew Matusik
FASHION LINGERIE
Suite 1940 photography Ben Oliver
KULTURE & ART CINEMA
Anthony Hopkins Not Brain Surgery interview Brandon Judell
KULTURE & ART PAINTING
talking with Marlene Dumas interview Odili Donald Odita
Johan Falkman A Dance-Macbre Around The Autopsy Table interview Magnus Sjöholm
KULTURE & ART PHOTOGRAPHY
Daniel Malcolm interview Koan Jeff Baysa
SHELTER & DESIGN FLORAL DESIGN
Questions for Olivier Guigni
TRAVEL & LEISURE
"Brazil? With my hair? Never!!" Diane von Furstenberg
aRUDE comment
bridal_issue_lucien.php
ONLINE content
ART & ARCHITECTURE
Questions for Bassam Fellows interview Iké Udé
BON APPÉTIT
Lucien interview Danielle Brown
BUSINESS OFF THE WALL
Questions For Aaron Schwartz
FASHION
Badgley Mischka interview Iké Udé
La Vie En Rose photography Andrew Matusik
FASHION LINGERIE
Suite 1940 photography Ben Oliver
KULTURE & ART CINEMA
Anthony Hopkins Not Brain Surgery interview Brandon Judell
KULTURE & ART PAINTING
talking with Marlene Dumas interview Odili Donald Odita
Johan Falkman A Dance-Macbre Around The Autopsy Table interview Magnus Sjöholm
KULTURE & ART PHOTOGRAPHY
Daniel Malcolm interview Koan Jeff Baysa
SHELTER & DESIGN FLORAL DESIGN
Questions for Olivier Guigni
TRAVEL & LEISURE
"Brazil? With my hair? Never!!" Diane von Furstenberg
questions for LUCIEN
interview Danielle Brown
Lucien photography Savannah Spirit click image to enlarge When did you start?
Essentially I opened in 1998. I was not a novelty then. I was going through very tough times then because I started very late as a restaurant owner in my life. I did not know how to raise money to open my restaurant. This is not the kind of restaurant that you just open. This is a larger place that is structured. Since everything is a component in an equation. The major component is to having to work the machines, the regulations. Through the years I have acquired some knowledge of the market and some connections with the people in the city. The question for me was why no one ever gave me ten dollars to open a place if they loved me so much. The answer was always we didn’t know how to get in touch with you. That’s why I put my name in an obvious and conspicuous way, to see if somebody would come and they did. They still do. So it was just I didn't know how to raise money. In a way it's even better for me because I don't have to report to anybody but my wife. My wife is my partner instead of some stranger or even the loveliest friends. Friends who have given you some money, you'll be repaying them in some account in something. You’re indebted. Five years ago then came the money and Iké was there all the time with me. The money came in and there was a dilemma because the Pony was a place where there was no food or drinks. It was a performance place with local artists particularly the starving ones. So it was a dilemma. So I pleased around them, then they loved it. Then there was better quality of coffee. There was centrality in the creative process. It was also an extension of their homes. Without disturbing the main thing, which is a literary café. A home. When you come to my restaurant, you're my guest. Thus, you’re a member of the family and sincerely treated as such. No complications!!
Where else can you go?
I have plans for Japan. To open Pink Pony in Tokyo, after that probably Berlin. Then go to France with the glory instead of going through the service door like a loser. You can be called for to go to your homeland. Come though the top.
Which place do you prefer to take your meals— here at Lucien or the Pink Pony?
It's the same. I supervise here at Lucien mainly during the day. I have to taste all the food on a daily basis. That was also the main reason why I'm open during the day while everybody is closed. I don't believe also in a lunch menu, dinner menu, bar menu dessert menu. It's a menu! So again I’m doing that not because I want to antagonize the customers or be possessive but because nobody is doing it. I want great food. I don't want brunch because to me brunch means bad breakfast and bad lunch. So they miss both. It's a compromise. Why be a compromise? Give people what everybody wants. A steak, a piece of fish, a piece of chicken. If you want eggs, we make you the eggs. They should not make a menu for eggs. Eggs this way, eggs that way. It's not a justification to make a menu. It's silly. Eggs are everywhere it is a hoax. Also not to amuse somebody and say they can have no eggs. Yes you can. What do you want? We have it. We will make it for you. If you can cook a steak, you can cook an egg. Eggs are made in every restaurant.
Where do you get your ingredients?
We get the fish from R&J seafood. From day one I don’t change my vendors. My relation to them and my appreciation for the quality is to pay them on time. If you pay them on time they value me as a customer and they don't cheat me in a wait and they don't cheat me to freshness. Those who have problems with the vendors are those who don't pay on time. There is a price to everything.
Do you use only fresh ingredients?
Of course, no need for anything.
How did you come up with the items on your menu?
I cook food that is eaten by an entire nation. Food can be eaten by the rich and the poor. It's high quality. For new years example we never raise our prices. It's the same. I always tell people, is there something in my menu that is not there that you want. I can put it there. Everything is there. Pastas are there, oysters are there, and lobsters are there, clams are there. What do they want?
Did you have any doubt when you first opened that you wouldn't make it?
The dilemma was the investors. They didn't give me anything. There is something wrong. Let me see by putting my name out there. I did a wonderful job when we first opened. People would come from everywhere. The place is small, so I never let anybody leave my place without any food. I would always sit them at the bar, they would wait and they would come to the table. They appreciate that. These people are my guests and also my family. They can go watch TV next door and I would come get them.
What about your staff, do you hand-teach all of them?
No. They punch in and punch out. There's no procedure of work. It's very simple. They make sure the people are happy.
What would be a good last meal for you?
Just a bottle of Evian water...I'm over fed.
What's your most covenant secret here at Lucien?
Is having none.
You're right here in the east village. I'm sure you have people come in all the time. What is, in your mind an incident that stands out as something extravagant or a crazy incident?
I've seen Mick Jagger once waiting on the line. At eleven o'clock at night. Nobody knew who he was. The generation has changed. The younger generation doesn’t know who Calvin Klein is. No one paid attention to him. Thank god I was around.
Are you always around at Lucien?
Most of the time, I do a lot on the phone. You can spend a whole day preparing. Come nighttime I let them schlep it up. This generation at times has become problematic. I am sixty-one years old.
Lucien I would never thought you over forty.
It's not a shame to be old. It's a miracle. People my age are either retired, dead or they are older. Taylor Mead is still around. I was invited to his son's concert at CBGB on Saturday.
Did you go?
Yes. It is good to see your own flesh and blood doing what they like to do. But we all have wants in life. Within a connection, there is something emotionally binding.
About?
I'm not the most charming person on earth but I love people. It's a blessing to be a guest. You don't lie to them or try to impress them. It's just the way it is. It's what hospitality is. That's just the way my mentality is. If I was a surgeon of course you have to have a timetable or be scripted. But this is not surgery. They are real people.
If you can have anybody eat here at your restaurant who would it be?
You.
interview Danielle Brown
Lucien photography Savannah Spirit click image to enlarge When did you start?
Essentially I opened in 1998. I was not a novelty then. I was going through very tough times then because I started very late as a restaurant owner in my life. I did not know how to raise money to open my restaurant. This is not the kind of restaurant that you just open. This is a larger place that is structured. Since everything is a component in an equation. The major component is to having to work the machines, the regulations. Through the years I have acquired some knowledge of the market and some connections with the people in the city. The question for me was why no one ever gave me ten dollars to open a place if they loved me so much. The answer was always we didn’t know how to get in touch with you. That’s why I put my name in an obvious and conspicuous way, to see if somebody would come and they did. They still do. So it was just I didn't know how to raise money. In a way it's even better for me because I don't have to report to anybody but my wife. My wife is my partner instead of some stranger or even the loveliest friends. Friends who have given you some money, you'll be repaying them in some account in something. You’re indebted. Five years ago then came the money and Iké was there all the time with me. The money came in and there was a dilemma because the Pony was a place where there was no food or drinks. It was a performance place with local artists particularly the starving ones. So it was a dilemma. So I pleased around them, then they loved it. Then there was better quality of coffee. There was centrality in the creative process. It was also an extension of their homes. Without disturbing the main thing, which is a literary café. A home. When you come to my restaurant, you're my guest. Thus, you’re a member of the family and sincerely treated as such. No complications!!
Where else can you go?
I have plans for Japan. To open Pink Pony in Tokyo, after that probably Berlin. Then go to France with the glory instead of going through the service door like a loser. You can be called for to go to your homeland. Come though the top.
Which place do you prefer to take your meals— here at Lucien or the Pink Pony?
It's the same. I supervise here at Lucien mainly during the day. I have to taste all the food on a daily basis. That was also the main reason why I'm open during the day while everybody is closed. I don't believe also in a lunch menu, dinner menu, bar menu dessert menu. It's a menu! So again I’m doing that not because I want to antagonize the customers or be possessive but because nobody is doing it. I want great food. I don't want brunch because to me brunch means bad breakfast and bad lunch. So they miss both. It's a compromise. Why be a compromise? Give people what everybody wants. A steak, a piece of fish, a piece of chicken. If you want eggs, we make you the eggs. They should not make a menu for eggs. Eggs this way, eggs that way. It's not a justification to make a menu. It's silly. Eggs are everywhere it is a hoax. Also not to amuse somebody and say they can have no eggs. Yes you can. What do you want? We have it. We will make it for you. If you can cook a steak, you can cook an egg. Eggs are made in every restaurant.
Where do you get your ingredients?
We get the fish from R&J seafood. From day one I don’t change my vendors. My relation to them and my appreciation for the quality is to pay them on time. If you pay them on time they value me as a customer and they don't cheat me in a wait and they don't cheat me to freshness. Those who have problems with the vendors are those who don't pay on time. There is a price to everything.
Do you use only fresh ingredients?
Of course, no need for anything.
When you come to my restaurant, you're my guest. Thus, you're a member of the
family and sincerely treated as such. No complications!!
How did you come up with the items on your menu?
I cook food that is eaten by an entire nation. Food can be eaten by the rich and the poor. It's high quality. For new years example we never raise our prices. It's the same. I always tell people, is there something in my menu that is not there that you want. I can put it there. Everything is there. Pastas are there, oysters are there, and lobsters are there, clams are there. What do they want?
Did you have any doubt when you first opened that you wouldn't make it?
The dilemma was the investors. They didn't give me anything. There is something wrong. Let me see by putting my name out there. I did a wonderful job when we first opened. People would come from everywhere. The place is small, so I never let anybody leave my place without any food. I would always sit them at the bar, they would wait and they would come to the table. They appreciate that. These people are my guests and also my family. They can go watch TV next door and I would come get them.
What about your staff, do you hand-teach all of them?
No. They punch in and punch out. There's no procedure of work. It's very simple. They make sure the people are happy.
What would be a good last meal for you?
Just a bottle of Evian water...I'm over fed.
What's your most covenant secret here at Lucien?
Is having none.
You're right here in the east village. I'm sure you have people come in all the time. What is, in your mind an incident that stands out as something extravagant or a crazy incident?
I've seen Mick Jagger once waiting on the line. At eleven o'clock at night. Nobody knew who he was. The generation has changed. The younger generation doesn’t know who Calvin Klein is. No one paid attention to him. Thank god I was around.
Are you always around at Lucien?
Most of the time, I do a lot on the phone. You can spend a whole day preparing. Come nighttime I let them schlep it up. This generation at times has become problematic. I am sixty-one years old.
Lucien I would never thought you over forty.
It's not a shame to be old. It's a miracle. People my age are either retired, dead or they are older. Taylor Mead is still around. I was invited to his son's concert at CBGB on Saturday.
Did you go?
Yes. It is good to see your own flesh and blood doing what they like to do. But we all have wants in life. Within a connection, there is something emotionally binding.
About?
I'm not the most charming person on earth but I love people. It's a blessing to be a guest. You don't lie to them or try to impress them. It's just the way it is. It's what hospitality is. That's just the way my mentality is. If I was a surgeon of course you have to have a timetable or be scripted. But this is not surgery. They are real people.
If you can have anybody eat here at your restaurant who would it be?
You.
