Seleste Tan of Lady Wong Patisserie & Chef Mogan Anthony Open La Bistro in Greenwich
Have a conversation with Seleste Tan for just a few minutes and the word that comes to mind is “humble.”
Tan’s bakery, Lady Wong Patisserie, with two locations in New York City, speaks about it like she never expected it to be the megahit that it is.
“I did it for a hobby during the pandemic and I never thought it would be big,” she says shyly.
Her confections, inspired by flavors from her home country of Singapore, and travels throughout Southeast Asia, are her muse. And that hobby? It turned into national coverage in all the big food publications and then some.
But living in the Byram section of Greenwich, Tan realized something…her community here wanted Lady Wong’s sweets.
French inspired, but clearly not fully French. Hamachi crudo - shiso, lime zest, ginger ponzu sauce, chili oil.
Hanger steak au poivre
One of the sleeper hits early on? This Caesar chicken schnitzel.
“We get a lot of customers that come to the city from Greenwich, Westport, Darien, and all over,” she says. “There’s a small group of familiar people who order, but pick it up at our house. It’s nice, but inconvenient for us. I’ve been looking for a small place close by our house because we have three kids and two locations in the city. It’s a lot. After a long Mother’s Day service at Lady Wong, I came home and just wanted to go out somewhere local. We came here—drove by it almost every day—and thought it was a cute place by the water.”
As it turns out, that “cute place,” formerly Coast Seafood Restaurant & Bar, had an owner that was ready to retire, and that’s kind of how the ball got rolling on Tan opening a spot of her own close to home.
A literal slice of melted comte atop a piping hot crock of low + slow onions, croutons, and tender brisket.
What started as an idea for just a Lady Wong pickup point, turned into more since the space was too big for just grab-and-go pastry, so why not turn it into a neighborhood restaurant also?
That’s where Tan’s husband comes in. Maybe you’ve heard of Village Social, Locali, Pubstreet, Fatt Root, and the newly opened Lulu’s Kitchenette?
Safe to say you have.
The husband in this case is Mogan Anthony, who along with his wife, has a background in French cuisine, as he worked for Jean-Georges and she worked at WD-50 back when they got to New York City many moons ago, so when it came to coming up with La Bistro’s concept, he figured, “Let’s do a little French influence.”
Tan and Anthony actually met in the industry, early on in their careers at the Four Seasons in Singapore in 2004.
“I wasn’t even in the kitchen yet,” Anthony recalls. “I worked in the front of house before transitioning to the kitchen.”
But who asked who out first?
“The cinema was playing The Polar Express,” Tan says. “I worked the graveyard shift, so there’s no way you can get off work. I like to talk nonsense like, ‘Hey, you wanna go out? Get Starbucks, see a movie?’ But I know I can’t get off from work. He got off and says, ‘Hey, you talked about Polar Express. Let’s go.’ Alot of text messages were exchanged, saw some movies, then we got together. Back then, the popular dessert was chocolate lava cake so he would always take it and shake the plate to make sure it jiggles to make sure I’m doing it right. We really got to know each other.”
On a menu that does have steak frites au poivre, French onion soup with chunks of tender brisket in each spoonful, Julia Child’s mussels, and foie gras terrine, it’s there alongside chips and guac, chili oil chicken dumplings, and burrata. There might even be a giant wagyu beef hot dog topped with pastrami, kraut, French onion soup onions, and mustard, served with a pile of shoestring fries.
If you’ve been to either Locali location, La Bistro pays homage to it with a couple of pastas from there in the garganelli Bolognese and fusilli with homemade shrimp sausage, a few bowls (and the dumplings) are a nod to Fatt Root, and there’s some Village Social faves scattered around the menu.
Another hit so far is the LB Burger, best described as a burger made in the spirit of French onion soup.
Manhattan, using SoNo1420’s Rye, but full cocktail menu aside, there’s a lofty wine list, too.
Pre service. In seconds, this new Cos Cob neighborhood spot fills up. La Bistro is petit, but they make sure to allow as much walk-in business as they do reservations.
Farmer’s Dog - wagyu hot dog on brioche with onions, sauerkraut, mustard, and pastrami.
But full-on French it’s not. Call it New American, or call it French-ish, seeing how that’s their baseline, albeit loosely, which is why they used “La” in the restaurant’s name instead of “Le,” to express being different.
It’s clear that what Tan and Anthony are doing with La Bistro isn’t simply one thing, it’s several, like incorporating some of their culture on the menu intertwined with some of Anthony’s greatest hits from the other restaurants, even though La Bistro is the couple’s own independent venture apart from the restaurant group.
As for the dessert aspect of La Bistro, it very obviously and prominently features Lady Wong’s pastry on the menu. If you’re dining in, everything in the stunningly gorgeous dessert case at the entrance is available from 11:30 to 5:30, and additionally, it’s all available for to-go walk-in customers between those same hours. When it’s time for busy dinner service, around three Lady Wong desserts will be offered post-dinner. And while it wasn’t available early on, preorders for whole cakes on Lady Wong’s website with La Bistro pickup is now an option.
Saying “don’t skip dessert” is an overused phrase. This time it rings true.
Strawberry guava entremet - almond sponge cake, strawberry compote, guava marmalade, Madagascar vanilla bean cheesecake mousse.
Initially, Anthony mentioned they considered the spot as something that would be part of his restaurant group.
“Me and Joe Bueti (Mogan’s business partner at the other restaurants) looked at it for another Pubstreet, then we went back and forth on maybe Lady Wong Bakery or a Pubstreet,” he says. “This one’s a family business.”
“He’s good at cooking, so I asked Mogan to help out with the food,” Tan says.
Anthony clarifies, “It’s her place! She’s the boss!”
They also vision La Bistro as a neighborhood spot, a place locals can visit that’s affordable (as of publication, nothing on the menu is over $30), and come as you are.
“We wanted to come up with something more fun and something different,” Tan continues. “Our three kids all want different things when we go out. When you have kids, it doesn’t have to be expensive or feel like you have to rob a bank to go out for a meal. Dress up if you want, come to hang with friends, or come in with your family and be casual.”
203 E Putnam Avenue, Greenwich
475.897.1331, labistro.com
