L’escale to close as Delamar Hotel takes control
Fine dining restaurant seeks new home
GREENWICH — French restaurant L’escale, which recently hosted the Greenwich International Film Festival’s Changemaker Gala, is closing at the end of the year.
The harborfront spot is not a victim of COVID-induced closures and business is strong, L’escale’s owner Rick Wahlsted said. Instead, L’escale wasn’t offered a renewal of its lease for space at the Delamar luxury hotel.
Greenwich Hospitality Group founder and CEO Charles Mallory said his company, which owns and operates the Delamar, will be keeping the vision that conceived L’escale 25 years ago while refreshing the restaurant space. Chef Frederic Kieffer will continue leading the culinary experience in a new restaurant in the hotel.
“But it’ll be essentially exactly the same staff, feeling and menu,” Mallory said.
Wahlsted believes the Delamar didn’t offer a lease renewal because of a business opportunity, adding that he always paid rent on time.
“It appears to me that the hotel is hoping to improve their performance and ride on the success of L’escale,” he said.
“Obviously, it was a great disappointment to me that we are unable to extend or renew our lease at the Delamar. I did not expect that,” he said. “As you know, we’ve been there for 20 years. We have become a bit of an institution in the community.”
Mallory offered to take over the management of L’escale, keeping the name and location, and pay Wahlsted for the rights.
Greenwich Hospitality Group runs restaurants attached to its other boutique hotels. Mallory said hotel customers and event hosts have a better experience when dealing with one management company for the hotel and restaurant.
“We do a great job on things like room service and breakfast, which are not necessarily what a restaurant operator spends time and effort on because they are not profitable,” he said. “But it’s a hotel; people expect good room service and they expect a good breakfast.”
The L’escale name belongs to Wahlsted, so Mallory is working on a new identifier for this iconic Greenwich location on the water. He said it will reflect the South of France.
Meanwhile, Wahlsted is looking for a new home for L’escale. He said he’s looking for a property in Greenwich or nearby, preferably also at the waterfront.
L’escale’s 20-year lease expires at the end of the year.
Patrons won’t notice any differences as L’escale readies to leave its space at 500 Steamboat Road. “We are going to be better than ever,” Wahlsted said.
The staff will serve a 20-year celebration menu through the end of the year, with customer favorites from the past two decades.
“We will continue what we’ve been doing for 20 years and try to be a big part of the community,” he said.
“We are going to build for the future. And, you know, when one door closes, another one opens,” Wahlsted said. “L’escale is a fantastic restaurant with a great design, and we are going to find a new home.”
He said he is thankful for the loyalty of his customers from Greenwich and beyond in Fairfield County. Updates will be posted on L’escale’s social media channels, he said.
Delamar Hotel anticipates opening its new restaurant in the spring of 2023.