In advance of opening her new Shelter Island restaurant, Léon 1909, Valerie Mnuchin invites some friends to her home to taste-test chef Mason Lindahl’s farm-to-table fare.
“During the pandemic, I started spending a lot of time working with my dad on Shelter Island,” says Valerie Mnuchin, a first-time restaurant owner who has just opened Léon 1909, which is named for her paternal grandfather. “He was Belgian and spent half his life on the East End. I never met him, but I wanted the restaurant to be an homage to him, as well as a love letter to Shelter Island.”
Valerie Mnuchin invited friends over to enjoy a tasting menu.
The menu is loosely inspired by La Chaumière, a restaurant in the South of France. “It’s very much about what’s fresh and in season,” Mnuchin says.
Brigitte Bardot, depicted in a work by Sam Samore, looks over the dining table, which is decked out in peonies, Mnuchin’s favorite flower. “Classic simplicity makes people feel relaxed. I don’t like things too fussy or overdone.
A French rosé was poured during lunch.
Guests Natasha Soni mixed her own custom cocktails with the help of Paul Sief, the restaurant’s mixologist.
Sief also helped guest Stacey Stantom mix up a drink. Sief’s Metropolitan is a twist on the Cosmo, twirled up with a citrus/strawberry finish.
Guests Natasha Soni and Renee Brown peruse the menu.
“Sharing food around the table makes people feel at home,” Mnuchin says. “I want the restaurant to be like that.”
Chef Mason Lindahl mixes a salad, shared among the guests en famille.
Guest Mindy Nam Dehnert checks out the table.
Mnuchin with guest Suzanne Peck.
Guest Rebecca Sternthal savors her cocktail.
Strozzapreti, the first course, was served with cherry tomatoes, Pecorino, and fresh basil.
Mnuchin and her guests say a cheer to good friends and delicious food.
To start, a red gem lettuce salad with roasted shallot vinegar, sherry, cherry tomatoes, mint, chives, tarragon, and peas.
Another starter included scallop crudo with buttermilk, lime, pepitas, and olive oil.
The main course was sea bass with peperonata.
Lemon meringue tart was served for dessert. The tea set, a family heirloom, once belonged to Mnuchin’s grandfather.
