Le Soufflé

With strictly limited hours and a dining room containing just six tables, securing a lunch reservation here feels closer to joining a private dinner party than visiting a standard restaurant. The operation is intentionally small, run entirely by two people: Lisa Foreman manages the floor while Chef Ivan Samchenko handles the kitchen solo. This lack of staff isn’t an oversight; it is the central mechanic of the experience. The pace is deliberate, dictated by the fact that one person is preparing every element of every dish from scratch, often while the guests are already seated. The room is dressed to match this domestic scale, set with vintage silverware and saucières sourced from Paris and New Orleans. It is quiet enough to hear the kitchen working, and the service is personal without being intrusive. The menu is singular in its focus, devoted almost exclusively to the art of the soufflé. A meal typically begins with a light starter, such as a sliced sugar pea salad, before moving to the savory main event—perhaps a crab or garlic soufflé—arriving at the table with the requisite height and wobble. Because the kitchen works on a precise timeline, you order your dessert at the start of the meal to ensure the timing aligns. The wine list complements this specificity, featuring around 20 boutique French producers available by the glass. For those unable to commit to the full prix-fixe lunch, the kitchen opens a brief, specific window in the afternoon dedicated solely to dessert service.