New York City Restaurants, Hotels, Nightclubs, Caterers & Banquet Halls

Tocqueville Restaurant in New York City is just down the block from its former location. Lush drapery, plush carpeting and lofty ceilings glam up a golden-hued dining room that drips with modern sophistication. The genuine, genteel staff welcomes a diverse, demure crowd--ranging from veteran foodies to young, splurging couples--with adroit refinement and without a hint of snobbery.

Fans are happy to see that some of chef Marco Moreira's signature items--like the delicate, creamy sea urchin and angel hair carbonara--have made the journey. Equally elegant combinations include slivers of briny Portuguese sardines with a bite of blood orange and soothing olive oil marinade; a flawlessly textured butter-poached lobster, slightly sweetened with spaghetti and kabocha squash; and a gingery bacalhau countering a silken cod filet. A roast suckling pig comes off as one-note with such competition, but it works for comfort seekers. The polenta cake bound by braised pineapple, yogurt and cilantro rounds out a similarly alluring dessert menu.

It was an inherited vocation; both his father and grand father were eminent chefs. Claude Godard has many years of experience in excellent Parisian restaurants. He has worked with a number of great Parisian chefs: Lasserre, A. Dutournier, J-P. Vigato and others. Claude went to South Africa to conquer Johannesburg and opened La Bastille Restaurant at a stone's throw from the Stock Exchange. After three years, he returned to his family business at the Modern Hotel Restaurant Godard in Burgundy to look after the kitchen with his father Jean-Claude.

Claude has been invited many times to give lessons and share the secrets of French cuisine with eminent foreigners. He helped Anne Willan at her cooking school La Varenne at le Chateau du Fey in Burgundy where many Americans, Japanese, Australians and South-Africans came to assit to the classes. In 1995, the French Goverment asked him to prepare a Gala Dinner for President Castro of Cuba.

In 1998, Claude and his family moved in New York City and in September 2000 Madison Bistro has been redecorated by Claude's wife Veronique Coutant-Godard.

In 2003 Claude Godard is recognized by the best of the Restaurant industrie who introduce him in the great society of the Master Chef "Maitre Cuisiniers de France".

In 2008 Claude Godard is introduced in the prestigious "Academie Culinaire de France".