Wednesday, December 3, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $115

“Our idea was to create a restaurant ‘du terroir,’” Guy Reuge wrote in the introduction to his charming little cookbook, Le Petit Mirabelle. In 1983 he and his wife, Maria, did just that. They modeled Mirabelle on a rural French country restaurant where “the main ingredients come from nearby farmers and the recipes are regional, as is the wine.” It’s a model that’s worked for more than 20 years, during which time Mirabelle’s reputation has stretched beyond the residents of St. James, Long Island, where it is located, to diners across the country.

“Mirabelle is a chef-owned restaurant that embodies modern French cuisine but also allows for New American influences”—at least that’s how the reviewers at digitalcity.com describe it. Reuge, a native of Normandy who grew up in the Loire region started cooking at age 14. He cooked in Switzerland before coming to New York City in 1973. Here, he was saucier at The New York Times four-star Le Cygne, and then chef de cuisine at the three-star La Tulipe.

Critics immediately took note of his little country restaurant just over an hour outside Manhattan. Florence Fabricant gave it a three-star review in The New York Times. Newsday went one better, bestowing four stars on Maria and Guy’s little piece of France. In 1991, Reuge was inducted into the order of the Maîtres Cuisiniers de France, one of the highest honors possible for a French chef.

The feast of Réveillon is a traditional French Christmas celebration. Seasonal specialties are served late into the Christmas Eve night sometimes beginning after midnight mass. It’s the kind of holiday meal you might hope to partake of while traveling in a “little-known but pleasing restaurant” that’s “tucked away in a small village,” where “the food is very good and very local.” That’s how Reuge articulated his dream for Mirabelle in his cookbook. In this instance, the “village” will be Manhattan’s Greenwich, the setting will be our House, and the celebration will certainly be pleasing to all.