La Caravelle

The story

John F. Kennedy ordered La Caravelle's vichyssoise and chicken in champagne sauce as takeout to eat on the plane. The restaurant opened on September 21, 1960, at 33 West 55th Street, founded by Fred Decré and Robert Meyzen with Roger Fessaguet as head chef. Its name came from the sailing ships Columbus used crossing the Atlantic. The daily-changing menu kept regulars returning and newcomers curious. Salvador Dalí, Walter Cronkite, and Dorothy Kilgallen were among its early devotees. By 1985, New York Magazine named it one of the city's best.