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HomePeopleFrancois Payard Opens a New Venue

Francois Payard Opens a New Venue

(This article appeared in the Fall 2022 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)

François Payard, the James Beard award-winning pastry chef and former owner of Payard Patisserie & Bistro in New York City, recently opened a new restaurant, Southold Social, on the North Fork of Long Island. Payard has partnered with North Fork restaurateur Adam Lovett, who co-owners and operates Southold Social. The menu highlights local ingredients sourced from the North Fork, including dishes such as house-made cavatelli with veal ragu, brine-cured pork chop, Montauk black sea bass, summer truffle polenta, a lobster roll with piment d’espelette and line-caught crudo. Recently renovated, the bi-level space has original wooden beams and beautiful teak flooring and features four distinct areas: a classic dining room; a buzzing bar area; an extensive tented outdoor patio and a top floor 38-seat private dining space for special events. We caught up with Chef Payard to discuss this new venture, as well as some of the challenges of running a restaurant in the post-pandemic era.

Chef photos by Felipe Coronado

Tell us about your new bistro, Southold Social – are you serving French food? 

Southold Social celebrates the best of the North Fork and features a menu that appeals to all types. The menu here is very much like a brasserie, and we are serving a lot of pasta. The menu is very local and very fresh.  We work with a team of local purveyors to supply the best available ingredients. For example, we have a wonderful fish guy, Charlie, who gets us beautiful soft shell crabs, and we work with two great farmers for the best vegetables. We adapt the menu regularly working with the ingredients available, curating an offering that has something for everyone. People are really loving our menu – we are getting great feedback. Our portions are generous, just like at Payard. I think sometimes restaurants now try to be too fancy, with very small portions – when people come here to eat they leave satisfied –  they don’t have to go to McDonald’s after!

What’s on the dessert menu?

We are serving an incredible selection of desserts! We have a gorgeous Pavlova, it’s very crispy, and withstands the humidity. We have a chocolate cake that everyone talks about, and a panna cotta with poached rhubarb and strawberry. And people love our lemon tart – it is from my very first cookbook, it is baked fresh each evening . I serve it with a piece of hard meringue, limoncello sorbet with a touch of olive oil and salt and finished with a basil crème anglaise. We have something for everyone!

This is not an easy time to be in the restaurant business, but I am very grateful that
we have a committed team and have been lucky to find a great group of people willing
to work hard, and we’ve had a lot of wonderful support from the community.

What’s on your wine list?

We were lucky to have Francois Latapie design the wine list for us – it is a wonderful selection of mostly French and local wines. There are some really phenomenal wines being produced on the North Fork and we are pleased to showcase many of them.

I am constantly thinking about new ways of creating and combining and ultimately, I am
motivated by bringing pleasure to those I love.

Considering the current labor shortage, do you have trouble finding and training a good staff for the restaurant?

We’ve had our challenges like everyone in the industry. This is not an easy time to be in the restaurant business, but I am very grateful that we have a committed team and have been lucky to find a great group of people willing to work hard and we’ve had a lot of wonderful support from the community.

You have inspired so many young pastry chefs over the course of your career. What motivates you to continue learning and excelling at your craft?

Thank you. I love what I do, I love to challenge myself and I am passionate about pastry and about making people happy! I am constantly thinking about new ways of creating and combining and ultimately, I am motivated by bringing pleasure to those I love.


Southold Social, 56125 Main Rd, Southold, NY 11971; 631-765-8888; www.southoldsocial.com

Tish Boyle
Tish Boyle
Tish Boyle is managing editor of Pastry Arts Magazine and an experienced food writer, cookbook author, pastry chef, and recipe developer. Her previous books include Chocolate Passion, Diner Desserts, The Good Cookie, and The Cake Book

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