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est. 2024 · West Village cuisine niçoise

La cuisine
de Lou,
à New York.

Maison Lou is a small West Village restaurant for the food of the Côte d'Azur — bouillabaisse on Fridays, pissaladière every night, and the tarte tatin Lou taught me to make.

Reserve a table See the menu
Réservez le vendredi soir pour la bouillabaisse — vraiment. — Céline
A Niçoise table at Maison Lou
Open tonight until 23:00
N° 67
Bedford St
In good company
The New York Times
Eater
Bon Appétit
Michelin Guide
Resy Top 50
Le Monde
Conde Nast Traveler
Time Out NY
The New York Times
Eater
Bon Appétit
Michelin Guide
Resy Top 50
Le Monde
Conde Nast Traveler
Time Out NY
Lou, Nice, 1962
I — Lou et moi

The recipes of a grandmother, mostly unchanged.

Lou ran a small pension on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice from 1962 until 1998. Every Friday she made bouillabaisse, the way her mother had made it in Saint-Mandrier. I learned to cook standing on a stool in her kitchen, my chin level with the marble counter.

Maison Lou is the dishes Lou cooked at the pension — almost exactly as she made them. The wine list is different, the bread is mine, and there is one change to the bouillabaisse she would have allowed.

Read Lou's story
II — Three plates

What we are
known for.

Three dishes that make the case for the rest of the menu. Available every night we are open.

Marseille fish stew, three fish, rouille
I.

Bouillabaisse Marseille fish stew, three fish, rouille

The dish that built the restaurant. Three Mediterranean fish, saffron, fennel, rouille.

$58
Slow onion, anchovy, black olive tart
II.

Pissaladière Slow onion, anchovy, black olive tart

Onions cooked for ninety minutes. Niçoise olives. Salt-cured anchovies. The taste of Nice in one bite.

$14
Caramelized apple tarte tatin
III.

Tarte Tatin Caramelized apple tarte tatin

Apples cooked in caramel for an hour. Puff pastry. Inverted at the table.

$14
III — Carte du jour

A taste of
the menu.

Three courses, briefly. The full bill of fare lives on the menu page — including the cave, where Amélia rules.

Pour Commencer

Anchoïade de Lou
Anchovies, garlic, olive oil, raw vegetables
16
Pissaladière
Slow onion, anchovy, black olive tart
14
Socca
Chickpea flatbread, rosemary
10
Tapenade noire & verte
Black & green olive tapenade, grilled bread
12
Poutargue
Cured mullet roe, lemon, brioche
22

Plats du Marché

Tagliolini, citron de Menton
Lemon tagliolini, basil
26
Pâtes aux fruits de mer
Seafood pasta, white wine, tomato confit
34
Risotto au safran
Saffron risotto, gold mussels
32
Pissalat de courgettes
Zucchini, anchovy, parmesan
24

Desserts

Tarte Tatin
Caramelized apple tarte tatin, crème fraîche
14
Île flottante
Floating island, crème anglaise, almond
12
Gâteau de châtaigne
Corsican chestnut cake
14
Sorbet maison du jour
Sorbet of the day
11
Café gourmand
Espresso with five small sweets
13
See the full menu
The kitchen at Maison Lou
IV — In the kitchen

One chef.
One menu.
One room.

Céline Marchand runs the kitchen at Maison Lou. She trained at Le Cordon Bleu and then five years in Marseille — Le Petit Nice, Une Table au Sud, AM par Alexandre Mazzia — before bringing Lou's recipes to a former wine shop on Bedford Street.

We do one menu, well. It changes when the market does.
Céline Marchand Chef-owner · Lou's granddaughter
More about Céline
V — Ce soir, chez Lou

Tonight at
the house.

The market changed early; here are two things we put on for tonight only.

Plat du jour — Daurade royale
Plat du jour

Daurade royale
en croûte de sel

A whole local daurade, baked in a hand-built salt crust. Broken at the table. With confit fennel and Lou's rouille.

$48 · for two
Vin du soir — Bandol Rosé
Vin du soir

Domaine Tempier
Bandol Rosé 2023

Lou drank this every summer. Amélia pulled the last six bottles for tonight. Glass while it lasts.

$18 / glass · $84 / bottle
VI — In their words

"It tastes like the South of France — but only if the South of France were also your grandmother."

— The New York Times · November 2025
Eater NY
"The bouillabaisse alone is worth the trip to Bedford Street. The pan bagnat sealed it."
Essential
Bon Appétit
"Maison Lou is the rarest thing — a restaurant that feels like a home."
Best New 50
Resy
"On a short list of restaurants we will book six weeks in advance, without complaint."
Top 50 of 2025
The Wall Street Journal
"A two-block walk from the subway and a thousand kilometres from anywhere else."
★★★½
Read all twelve mentions
The back room at Maison Lou
VII — Private events

The back room, for thirty-two.

A second dining room behind the kitchen, with a single long table for thirty-two. Set menus from $145. Full buyout of the house — fifty-four seats — for $14,000 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

For birthdays, anniversaries, small weddings, or quietly closing a deal.

Plan an event
VIII — Souvent demandé

Things people
ask first.

Cannot find your answer? Phone the house at +1 (212) 555 0167. Someone will pick up between 11 and 22, Tuesday to Sunday.

Six of the questions our guests ask before they sit down.

Speak to us
  • Six weeks to the day, on Resy. Friday and Saturday nights book up in about an hour each week. We hold half a dozen tables back for walk-ins each night and the bar is always first-come.
  • Yes. The bar — eight seats — is walk-in only. Tables hold a few seats each night for parties of one or two who arrive before 18:30 or after 21:30. Phone if you'd like us to text you when something opens up.
  • No. Lou cooked in a smock. We ask only that you keep your jacket off the back of the chair if the room is full.
  • Yes, with notice. We mark vegetarian, gluten-free, and shellfish on the menu. Please let us know about severe allergies when you reserve and again with your server — the kitchen plates everything to order, but our flour and our shellfish share air.
  • Of course. Lou raised four of her own in the pension. We have small portions for many of the dishes, a small drawer of crayons at the host stand, and we don't mind noise.
  • Reservations of six or fewer: cancel any time before noon the day-of. Larger reservations: 48 hours. Private events: 30 days. We do not charge a no-show fee for parties of four or fewer — we trust you.
IX — Visit

Where to
find the house.

67 Bedford Street, between Morton and Commerce. A West Village block, an unmarked door, a hand-painted Lou.

Hours

Monday Fermé
Tuesday 17:30 — 22:30
Wednesday 17:30 — 22:30
Thursday 17:30 — 23:00
Friday 17:30 — 23:30
Saturday 11:30 — 15:30, 17:30 — 23:30
Sunday 11:30 — 15:30, 17:30 — 22:00
PHONE +1 (212) 555 0167
Bedford St Morton St Commerce St
Lou's, ici
XII — Réservation

Réserver
une table.

Tuesday through Sunday, lunch and dinner. Same-week tables almost always available — sometimes the same day, if you call.

Reserve a table Call the house