by Anya Firestone’s work as a luxury tour guide in Paris has taken her to many exclusive corners of the city. But only recently did he do something countless locals and visitors have done over the past 130 years: book a reservation at Maxim’s, the historic French restaurant that opened in 1893 and has been featured by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Margaret II of Denmark, Jean Cocteau, Jane Birkin and Man Ray among his sponsors.
“The place was packed,” Firestone, 35, said of the night he dined there in late November. “There was energy – Maxim’s ghosts are probably happy.”
Firestone, who has lived in Paris on and off since 2010, hadn’t tried dining there before because the restaurant “fell off my radar,” he said, in part because he didn’t know if it was still operating as a restaurant. restaurant. She was not alone in that perception.
“Many people, even the majority, didn’t realize it was open as a restaurant,” said Pierre Pelegry, a director at Maxim’s who worked there for 27 years and was hired by Pierre Cardin, the French fashion designer, after he bought the restaurant. in 1981.
In recent years, the focus at Maxim’s had shifted toward private events, Pelegry said, and for a time it was open to diners only Wednesdays through Saturdays. It resumed daily bookings in November, two months after the Paris Society, a French hotel group, took over operations as part of a deal with the Cardin family. (Mr. Cardin died in 2020; his estate has since been embroiled in a battle over his estate.)
The three-story space, which has a small stage on the ground floor, has long been a favorite of the fashion world. Fendi plans to have an event there during Paris Haute Couture Week this month, and last year Maxim hosted parties hosted by Valentino and Dior. Alexa Buckley Roussel, a shoe designer, and Alexandre Roussel, whose father is a fashion executive, had your wedding welcome party in the restaurant in September.
“Maxim’s transports you,” said Ms. Buckley Roussel, 32, “and we wanted to give our guests a true immersion.”
Over the decades, Maxim’s has been recognized for its food (it once had three Michelin stars) as well as its interiors, which include brass fixtures, velvet upholstery, stained glass, and other Art Nouveau details found throughout. became popular after the restaurant. First opened at the end of the 19th century. The space has been used as a location for films, including “Gigi” and the 1952 version of “Moulin Rouge,” and for Fashion photo shoots.
In 1979, its interior was designated a historical monument by the French government. Cordélia de Castellane, artistic adviser to the Paris Society tasked with renewing Maxim’s look, said the appointment gave the restaurant’s new operator little chance to change its appearance. But she was largely okay with it: When asked to help with the acquisition of the hotel group, she recalled thinking, “I’ll take the job, but I won’t touch anything!”
Ms. de Castellane, 42, who is also artistic director of Dior’s baby and home lines, said her “small interventions” at Maxim’s included new floral banquette upholstery and changing lampshades in the kitchen. table from a reddish tone to a pinkish tone.
She also modified the restaurant’s logo, which under Cardin’s ownership had become a stylized M that she said looked “too much” like McDonald’s golden arches.
After Cardin bought Maxim’s, it began to function as a brand: new locations opened in New York and around the world, some of which have since closed, and the restaurant’s name began appearing on products such as luggage and utensils. kitchen.
Amanda Lear, a model and singer from Paris who previously wrote gossip columns for British publications, said in an email that Maxim’s had “lost its magic” because of those efforts to grow the business.
In the 1970s, Lear often ate at the restaurant with Salvador Dalí. “Each guest had to pass by his table upon entering the room and of course they would stop by to say hello,” he said.
More recently, she went there to perform at the Dior event last year, where she sang “Fashion Pack,” a single she released in 1979. Its lyrics include the phrase “In Paris you’re going to be seen at Maxim’s.”
Ms. Lear was cautiously optimistic about the restaurant’s new operator and the next chapter.
“I hope I resurrect him,” he said. “But I’m not sure today’s rock stars and Kardashians will be able to recapture the glamor of this historic place.”
