Figaro Café: The Once-Famed Beatnik Café Is Returning To Greenwich Village This Summer

 In the heart of Greenwich Village, at the height of the beatnik era in the 1960s, the coffee shop, Le Figaro Café, was the place to be. It was frequented by writers Allan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, musician Lou Reed, playwright / actor Sam Shepard, who once worked there as a barista when he first arrived in New York, and dozens of people in black berets.

But many things fade away and so did Le Figaro Café, which closed in 2008. But now the partners, restaurateur Mario Skaric and lawyer Florence Zabokritsky, backed by some wealthy investors, are reviving it, under a simpler name, Figaro Café. It is expected to open in June or July.

Despite the pandemic's crushing effect on tourism in New York, Skaric is optimistic that millennials, babyboomers and diverse New Yorkers will flock to a revitalized European cafe, open for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner.

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Skaric, a 31-year-old trained attorney who hails from Croatia but has lived in New York City for eleven years, has worked at several top New York restaurants, including Baby Brasa in the West Village and currently as general manager at the Grill at the Standard Highline.

He and his partner first identified the vacant space in June 2019, before the pandemic occurred. When they returned to see if it was still available after the pandemic hit, they were offered a "pronounced discount" in the first two years of their lease, to make it palatable, he suggested.

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Restoring it as Café Figaro "seemed natural to revive its most famous tenant," Skaric said.

"We wanted to bring it back for people who know it and introduce it to people who didn't," Skaric exclaimed. He is prepared for criticism from veterans who will say: "it's not as it used to be.”

The Fifties and sixties, he noted, are all the rage with TV series like 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel " and "the Queen's Gambit", so it's a good time to relive it.

It closed in 2008 when it was operated by its owner, who found it too cumbersome to run the restaurant alongside its real estate.

Skaric hopes that by the time it opens this summer the effects of the pandemic will lessen, but its extensive outdoor space, which will accommodate about 60 people, on Bleecker Street and MacDougal Street, will make dining safer. It will also accommodate around 125 interior seats.

However, Skaric candidly acknowledges "I'm definitely worried about the first year, but by the second year, I think New York City will bounce back. He always does, as he did after 9 / 11L.”

He describes the upcoming menu as " modern americana, combining dishes from France and Italy with food of the American soul, including po’ boys, fish, oysters, caviar and tartar.It will be of interest to pescatarians, carnivores and vegetarians.

Special desserts include cotton candy crème bulee, roasted table and Baked Alaska, flamed on the table.

The coffee will be provided by Puerto Rico Importing Company, the original supplier of Le Figaro coffee, to link the present with the past.

He compares his menu to the trendy Pastis cafe that has thrived in the Meatpacking District, where it recently reopened after a move.

It will be a luxury cafe, with prices similar to nearby Caffé Dante, but less than Minetta Tavern and Carbone.

Their goal is to attract a "crowd of neighbors, mostly locals and New Yorkers from the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, when they go downtown to the West Village," Skaric said.

Although he will offer third-party delivery at first to generate revenue, Skaric admits he's "not a fan" and taking 35% to 40% of the check is too much. He would prefer to offer his own delivery service and cut the middleman.

Skaric feels like a New Yorker and wants to give back. He was once told that if you can cry on the subway and see Woody Allen on the street, you're a New Yorker, and he's done both.

His goal is for the Figaro Café "to become a neighborhood staple for New Yorkers to get to the West Village. We hope that our food and service justify it.”