Goodbye Soliel, Hello LaBaguette
Soleil is a beautiful restaurant, but since it opened I've heard many say the menu and operation was all wrong - that what downtown really wanted was for the owners, the Buthions, to open up another La Baguette.
Way back when, going back to 1995, the owners of La Baguette opened a second location at downtown’s Journal Record Building. The restaurant was a hit, but the bombing of the neighboring Alfred P. Murrah Building ended the operation.
When I first learned Michel and Alain Buthion were planning to return downtown in 2006 to the renovated Colcord Hotel, I assumed they would reopen LaBaguette. I was wrong. A lot of people were wrong. Instead they came out with Soliel, which matched the initial hotel concept pushed by developer Paul Coury: swanky, expensive and if you have to ask how much, then too expensive for you.
This isn’t a concept that flies well in populist Oklahoma, regardless of income. Coury realized his mistake after one year, hired on Waterford veteran hotelier Jeff Erwin and made the hotel warmer, more approachable.
The Buthions, from what I’ve heard around town, didn’t follow suit and stuck to the Soliel concept which never matched their very popular LaBaguette. They’re artists, so let’s not jump to judging them. But it was a misfire.
Enter Devon Energy as the hotel’s new owner. Devon, from its CEO Larry Nichols on down, is very much the definition of “approachable.”
So now that Colcord officials have confirmed to me the restaurant is changing to LaBaguette (you can find evidence as well on their Soliel website, which is in transition), count me as someone who is not surprised.
None of this is meant to the highly regarded Buthions, who have a big, big following in this town. But being business requires that you give people what they want.
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Comments
Sarah, I’m not sure that if you have taken a good look at the space that one could consider it “a pig.” And LaBaguette has been popular in northwest Oklahoma City.
I ate at Soleil a couple of times and was not very impressed, however, I hate to see a mid/high end restaraunt close as we don’t have a whole lot of those in DT/BT. Red Prime, Mickey Mantles, The Mantel, any more?
Good move for the Buthions and Colcord, IMO. I’ve never seen Soleil very busy, probably due to price. Knowing it is going to be La Baguette, I will frequent it more.