Chef Daniel Boulud has built a verifiable restaurant empire, with eateries in Florida, Canada, the Bahamas, Dubai and Singapore. You can eat his food on Celebrity Cruises ships, and soon you will be able to visit Café Boulud in Beverly Hills. But he wants to make it clear that his unwavering commitment to New York City, where he helms restaurants including his fine-dining flagship Daniel, seafood-centric stunner Le Pavillon and the newly resurrected Café Boulud, has in no way softened.

“Coming out of Covid, it’s a miracle to be able to do this,” Boulud tells Observer. “We lost some restaurants and we gained some new ones. I’m very happy that I have had the chance to remain busy and strong and to have opportunities for our team.”

“I think it’s a good time in New York,” Boulud adds. “We need people like me more and more, because everyone’s saying that New York is done. The last thing I want to believe is that New York is done. And the last thing I want to do is to move to Florida.”

The original Café Boulud in New York (named after a restaurant Boulud’s great-grandparents operated at their family farm........

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