Jeff Buben Remembers Le Lion D'or

Jeff Buben, the chef behind such restaurants as Bistro Bis and Vidalia, has one restaurant that particularly stands out in his memory: Le Lion D'or, which operated from 1976-1997, featuring the cooking of chef Jean-Pierre Goyenvalle. Here's what he had to say about it:

When Sallie and I moved to Washington it was where we celebrated our first anniversary. We were far and away the youngest people in the restaurant and still were treated like royalty (the dining room was full of Washington power [players], circa 1984). Salade roquette au bleu D'Auvergne (prepared tableside) and a pithivier of squab with sauce perigueux were stand outs (the roquette and the squab were both sourced from Virginia farms)!

Chef Jean Pierre Goyenvalle always shared his sources for local products willingly and was accessible for advice to me as a young chef from out of town.

When Le Lion D'or closed, Chef Goyenvalle gave me a collection of posters from the great chefs of France. They would send these posters as Christmas cards to their fellow Maitres Cuisiniers de France. We still have them hanging on the walls at Bistro Bis as inspiration and good luck charm 17 years later.