New French restaurant coming to downtown Wilmington

Casual French cuisine has long been a rarity in Wilmington.

While the Hotel du Pont's Green Room once set the standard for high-end French gastronomy, there's been a conspicuous lack of French bistros in Delaware's largest city for decades.

Restaurateur newcomer Soufiane Lailani is banking that Margaux, his coming-soon brasserie at 902 N. Market St. will fill a void for those seeking upscale, French comfort food.

Lailani is teaming with his business partner, and childhood friend, Karim Hammouchene, whom he grew up with in their native Morocco, to open the 72-seat restaurant near Rodney Square.

The partners have renovated a bottom floor site in the former Delaware Trust building, now known as The Residences at Rodney Square. The 13-story, Classical Revival building, on the National Register of Historic Places, is owned by The Buccini/Pollin Group.

The restaurant is a work in progress. The furniture has not yet been moved in, the bar and kitchen are still being stocked. Still, the partners hope to open Margaux for lunch and dinner in about three weeks.

"We want a classic brasserie, not intimidating French gastronomy. It will be like Balthazar in New York," said Lailani of the legendary brasserie owned by Keith McNally that has been a part of the Manhattan dining scene since 1997.

The New York Times has called Balthazar "not fine dining, and certainly not a diner, but it creates the veneer of luxury."

French cuisine, which began falling out of favor about 15 years ago due to changing tastes and perhaps because it was viewed as too stuffy and pretentious, is ripe for a revolution. The James Beard Foundation in 2017 predicted a French cuisine revival.

Restaurateur Stephen Starr's Parc, a bistro in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square, has been a success since its 2008 opening. And last year, Starr's modern, French eatery Le Coucou at New York's 11 Howard hotel, was named best new restaurant in America by the Beard Foundation. 

The last downtown Wilmington eatery truly devoted to Gallic cooking might have been the French Gourmet, a short-lived, 31-seat restaurant at 833 Tatnall St. The restaurant, run by University of Delaware French literature and languages professor Rene Coulet du Gard, a native of Algiers, enjoyed a brief run in the early 1970s.

Later came Sal's Place on Lincoln Street in Little Italy, one of the first Delaware restaurants to serve haute cuisine in an intimate setting. Daniel's at the Devon condominiums at 2401 Pennsylvania Ave., was a popular French Continental restaurant in the mid-1980s. Owned by Daniel Lewis, it served classic dishes like sole meunière, crepes stuffed with crabmeat and steak au poivre. 

Most recently,  De La Coeur at 1836 Lovering Ave. has been serving French-inspired breakfast and lunch fare like croissants, omelets and crepes.

Lailani, born in Tangiers, has lived in the United States since coming here from his hometown in Casablanca to attend college. 

"I learned English at age 21. Twenty-five years later, I'm still here," he said. "I was only going to stay four years. It's true what they say about Delaware: Once you're here, you can't leave."  

Lailani said he and Hammouchene initially wanted to open a restaurant in California, and considered trendy areas such as Venice Beach and West Hollywood. But after breaking down the numbers — a leased space in California was about $25,000 a month — they decided it was too expensive, and, two years ago, started planning for a space in Delaware.

Starting a restaurant is an ambitious and costly undertaking. According to data compiled by Digital Third Coast, a Chicago-based digital marketing agency, the average start-up cost for a restaurant in a leased space is $495,000 or $159 per square foot.

While Lailani has worked as a consultant for restaurants and chefs and was a partner in a Moroccan food company that won Specialty Food Association awards, he has never owned a restaurant.

But he said Hammouchene has operated seven eateries in Morocco, and Lailani is ready for a challenge. He said he has had many doubters and is ready to prove them wrong.

"What drives me is when people say 'That's not going to work,'" Lailani said, adding his greatest achievements have come after others have scoffed at his ideas.

The partners are taking over a historic space that has been sitting empty for at least five years. The 902 N. Market St. site was last home to Vinoteca 902, an experimental Mediterranean and Latino fusion eatery that never found its footing. Before that it housed two other fleeting restaurants, The Exchange and The National. 

The space has been gutted over the past year and Lailani estimated the partners have spent about $400,000 on renovations. The refurbishment brought some surprises. Lailani said they uncovered the building's original terrazzo floor, near the hostess stand, that dates back to 1921. 

The dining area has been broken into two separate spaces, and a new bar installed with 22 seats. The decor is more modern than belle époque.

Custom-made, bronze colored, tufted banquettes surround the rooms. Walls are bathed in deep navy blue, new wooden flooring has been put in place and arched doorways, which echo the exterior's three monumental-scaled arched entrance openings, have been added.

Some of the spare-no-expenses decor includes a Jonathan Adler Sputnik Chandelier in the restaurant's new entryway. The antiqued brass lighting, evoking the feeling of a Parisian parlor, retails for about $2,000. 

The Margaux brasserie will focus on traditional French fare such as steak frites, escargots, salad Dijonnaise and steak au poivre. Lailani said he is close to finalizing the restaurant's executive chef and wasn't yet ready to release the name.

The cost of entrees will range from about $20 to $32. The wine list will be about 80 percent affordable French wines and 20 percent American wines in the $35 to $40 range. Lailani said bartenders will be offering craft cocktails.

"I want to offer something that's quality and that's not for a special occasion," Lailani said.

Later in the summer, he plans to open a next-door bakery and crêperie/coffeehouse. It will have a separate entrance and outdoor seating, and the space has its own liquor license.

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Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico