Florent Morellet opened his namesake restaurant in 1985. It’ll close after Gay Pride, June 29. Photo: Patrik Rytikangas.
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By Dustin Fitzharris
Friday, June 06, 2008
I was told by the man himself, Florent Morellet, to meet him at his legendary restaurant at 6 p.m. He said it wouldn’t be busy at that time. He was right. There weren’t many people in sight. In fact, he wasn’t even in sight! I take a seat at the Formica counter and watch as people trickle in.
“Hi, Charlie!” Darren Anthony, Florent’s host for the past 12 years, greeted a regular customer. “Take the table in the corner.”
As I sat there, I couldn’t help but thinking that on June 29, Gay Pride Day, Florent—the 24-hour restaurant in the Meatpacking District—would close its doors after 23 years because of a rent increase close to $25,000 a month.
Meanwhile, a boyish-looking Gates Otsuji, a Florent employee of nine years, with curly locks pushed back in a bandana, a pink Florent t-shirt and a food-stained apron, serves up drinks at the counter.
“You just never know who’s going to come in,” Otsuji says. “Everyone is welcomed.”
Just then, a cute and svelte Florent arrives in shorts and a tank, carrying his iPhone. Pretty chic for a man who turned 55 on June 23. He greets me with a kiss. We seat, and I had to ask right away how he’s coping with the impending closure.
“It’s a roller coaster,” Forent says with his raspy voice. “There are moments of melancholy and sadness, but there are so many great things happening. There’s been incredible recognition in the media.” He quickly rattles off how many pages various publications have given him. But make no mistake, he is grateful and appreciative.
“I have cried reading everything,” Florent says. “It’s like being able to read your own obituary. Some people never have this chance.”
In August 1985, paying $1,350 for rent, Floret opened. Currently he is paying $6,180 a month. According to New York Magazine he offered his landlord $18,000, saying that was the highest he could go without significantly raising prices and fundamentally changing the restaurant. His offer was rejected. The space is now being shown to prospective buyers for over $30,000.
So if he’s so passionate about the restaurant, why not just raise prices?
“I can only enjoy myself with what I’m doing here if the place has an eclectic mix of clientele,” Florent said. “That includes people who don’t have too much money and people who have a lot of money. That is what has made this place so unique.”
Perhaps Florent is the Studio 54 of restaurants. Like Studio 54, where the hottest superstar could dance beside an unknown, Florent has celebrities sitting next to neighborhood locals.
As Kevin Malony, artistic director for Tweed Theaterworks put it, “At Restaurant Florent you were treated like a real person even if you weren't.”
Over its 23-year history, Madonna, Calvin Klein, Diana Ross, Amy Winehouse and Bette Midler are just a few of the many celebrities who have ordered from Florent’s menu. As for the first star to come through his doors, Florent, trying to think of actor’s name, finally just says, “Superman.” Putting his mind to ease, I tell him it was Christopher Reeve.
Until recent years, Florent was surrounded by late-night underground gay clubs, ranging from leather bars to megaclubs. Needless to say, the eatery would draw an eclectic crowd. But Florent doesn’t like to live in the past. In fact, he says he “loathes nostalgia.” But I had to take him back to his childhood.
An “American” in Paris
Florent was born in Cholet, France. His father was a conceptual artist; his mother, a concert pianist. At 15, his mother confronted him about his sexuality. Without hesitation, he “came out.”
When asked what kind of child he was, Florent answers, “I went into rehab six years ago. That’s when I realized I was a sex addict.”
I thought, “Did he not hear the question right?” As he continued, I realized a sex addiction was about his childhood.
He explained that after being in a “bottomless depression,” he joined Sexual Compulsive Anonymous, where he learned that “the cause of my depression was that I was putting most of my validation in my looks and being desired,” Florent said. “It’s not that I wanted to have sex all day long; I wanted to be desired. That’s how I functioned since I was 12 or 13 years old. I was a sex addict since then.”
Once he got into his 40s and became less desired by the cute, young men, Florent felt more and more rejected. That drove him to obsession—spending his days, desperately looking for someone to sleep with who could help him validate his looks. When rejected, he felt like killing himself.
With therapy, which he still continues, Florent learned he has a lot to offer beyond his looks and doesn’t need to look to others for validation.
Even as a young boy, Florent knew he wanted to live in America.
“I realized I was born American in the wrong place,” Florent said. “It was a geographic accident.”
After sampling what San Francisco had to offer in the early ’70s and then moving to Paris, where he lost quite a bit of money in a failed restaurant endeavor, Florent moved to New York in 1978.
“At 25 I could only be in the capital of the world and New York is that,” Florent said about the move.
Settling in an 11th floor loft on Lafayette and Prince where he still lives today, Florent says New York scared him when he first arrived.
He quickly adjusted, discovering gay leather bars the Anvil and the Mineshaft in the Meatpacking District. It was on those sweaty and sex-filled nights that helped him become familiar with the area where he would set up shop.
When the luncheonette R&L was looking to sell its space at 69 Gansevoort Street, Florent decided to try his hand at another restaurant business. The rest is history.
Since its opening, the area has transformed. No longer known for its grittiness, the Meatpacking District is now home for Stella McCartney, Apple and the members-only SoHo Club with a rooftop pool. But while other New Yorkers long for the days of yore—blaming the demise of the area on everything from Rudolph Giuliani to “Sex and the City”—Florent isn’t interested in looking back.
“This area was pretty nasty,” Florent said. “It was dangerous. We had to leave in groups at night. People were murdered. The prostitutes were on crack. For every three prostitutes there was a crack dealer. So, the demise of what? That? Every year since I came here somebody told me, ‘I’m leaving; New York is not what it used to be.’ Then there was always somebody coming because they thought it was the coolest place.”
Today’s Special: T-Cell Count
In 1987 Florent discovered he was HIV-Positive. While his peers were dying every day and others remained silent—fearing people wouldn’t even want to be around them—Florent went public. Underneath the restaurant’s daily specials, he keeps his T-cell count.
“I always believed it was better for me to be out of the closet,” Florent said. “I’ve always believed it was better for everyone to be out of the closet. If my being out of the closet can help others come out, then so be it. With AIDS, I wanted to take death and dying out of the closet.”
The following year Florent exchanged vows in a civil ceremony with his longtime partner, Daniel Platten. In 1994, Platten died due to complications related to AIDS. Over a decade later, Florent still remains in good health. What’s his secret?
“Remember, genetically some people are built better to fight AIDS,” Florent said. “My mother takes the credit!”
The Future & Florent
Come June 30, there will be a vacancy—not just in a space, but also in many hearts.
“I am going to miss working in an environment that is so Democratic and filled with integrity,” Otsuji said. “It may not be the perfect restaurant, but it’s the most honest. Our customers have come in at their best and worst. We’ve had people get engaged at this counter and people have broken up.”
Don’t expect to find Florent mourning on the streets of New York. He’ll be in Italy with his boyfriend of two years, novelist Peter Cameron. Then he’s off to Tuscany to visit family. Florent is also talking with a literary agent to write his life story.
After spending close to an hour with Florent, the restaurant is now packed—not a seat available. Before I say goodbye, I ask Florent what he’s the most proud of. With a smile he looks around the place that he made into a New York institution and says, “This.”
Tweed Theaterworks presents: “Those Were the Days: Au Revoir Restaurant Florent.” Mon. June 23, 8 p.m. at Comix comedy club, 353 W. 14 St., 212-524-2500. VIP Dinner Package with Florent, $70 includes Inner Circle seating for the show, a three-course Prix Fixe dinner. General admission tickets are $18 in advance or $23 day of show. Inner circle seating $25 in advance $30 day of show, www.comixny.com.
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