At Raoul’s, Fifty Years Is Just Another Night at the Bar

On December 9, storied Soho bistro Raoul’s marked its golden anniversary with a dinner that felt less like a formal milestone than an expertly staged memory. Hosted by Chloë Sevigny, Lauren Santo Domingo, and restaurateur Karim Raoul (who co-directed the event with Ryan Matthew of Studio RM), the evening was anchored by a limited-edition collaboration with Moda Operandi.

The night unfolded inside Raoul’s Prince Street home, the same narrow, cinematic rooms that have absorbed five decades of conversations, flirtations, arguments, and deals. The anniversary celebration leaned into that balance. Guests arrived to bites and drinks inspired by the restaurant’s 1975 archives, a subtle nod to the earliest nights in Soho, before the dining room gave way to movement-driven performances choreographed by Akira Uchida.

For Sevigny, Raoul’s occupies a deeply personal place in New York’s creative map. “I first discovered Raoul’s in the ‘90s through friends in the art world,” she told Surface. “It was and remains a favorite for that crowd, with its Larry Clark and Bruce Nauman amongst others adorning the walls.” Her memories are architectural in their detail—the endless gladiolus, the fish tank, the tarot card reader upstairs—and deeply social. Nights slipping through the kitchen to the old back room. Booths claimed by friends and lovers. Birthdays marked by oysters, artichokes, and the restaurant’s famously theatrical caramelized dome dessert.

“I brought my husband there on our first date for their coveted burger,” she added, “only served at the bar between certain hours.” Years later, she returned with their child, to what she calls “my favorite room in Manhattan.” At Raoul’s, the personal and the public have always overlapped. Everyone has a story, and none of them cancel each other out.

The guest list reflected the restaurant’s enduring gravitational pull: longtime regulars alongside newer faces from fashion, film, art, and design. From the choreography to the archive-inspired menu and the capsule collection, each element functioned as a quiet echo rather than a statement piece. Raoul’s has never needed to explain itself. That may be its greatest achievement. Fifty years on, it remains a place where downtown mythology continues to accumulate naturally, without the burden of self-awareness. You come for dinner, you stay for the conversation, and somehow over time you become part of the story.