Charles Masson Sr., a former apprentice of Henri Soulé, founded La Grenouille with his wife, Gisèle, in 19621. Its home, an 1871 carriage house on East 52nd Street, had at one point been an artists' salon where Marlene Dietrich and Charlie Chaplin hung out1, 2, 3. The dining room was famous for towering flower arrangements and romantic lighting, and its guests ran from Salvador Dalí, David Bowie, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren to the power-lunch crowd and uptown socialites1, 3. In 2009, the year we called it practically a platonic ideal of elegance, Sam Sifton called it the last survivor of the French restaurants that arrived in New York in the 1960s4.
Gisèle ran the room from her husband's death in 1975 until 20101. After her death, Charles Jr. stepped down as manager in 2014 amid a dispute with his brother Philippe, which by 2021 had people fearing for the restaurant1. A Con Ed gas leak closed it from June to November 20231. In 2024 the building went up for sale, reportedly at $15 million, and in mid-September La Grenouille closed without giving a detailed reason1, 4, 5. That October the building sold for about $14 million to Quanjude, the Beijing duck chain2, 4.
In June 2025 iDen & Quanjude Beijing Duck House opened in the space and kept the dining room as it was2, 6.
Researched October 2026.