The new outpost of Coucou in West Hollywood looks like it’s been around forever. Owners Jesse and Hayley Feldman found a perfect tucked-away corner on Santa Monica Boulevard and Nemo Street to stage a Los Angeles-meets-Paris mise-en-scène that feels like WeHo’s 6th arrondissement.
Since opening last year, Coucou’s other location, in Venice, has become my go-to for nights that call for freshly shucked oysters and martinis, or all-in steak frites. And lest we forget the TikTok-favorited Straus Family Creamery soft-serve ice cream in a celery green parfait glass that has exactly the fixin’s you crave (because who doesn’t crave artisanal Magic Shell?).
What I love about the new Coucou (Noucou? Can we make that a thing?) is that it unexpectedly fills a void on a solidly iconic stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard. Steps from Dan Tana’s, The Troubadour, and art galleries in a mini-enclave known as the Norma Triangle, Coucou hits the spot for an elevated-but-chill, grownup-yet-playful, delicious-but-affordable bistro without the oontz-oontz-oontz aesthetic that defines that area’s clubbier parts.
With 80 seats split between indoors and out, the restaurant is built around a jasmine-enshrouded patio and set back from the street just enough to feel like a secret garden. There’s a marble bar and wood-fired oven for continental specialities like chicken paillard and a flamed-licked dorado. Bouchon alum Jacob Wetherington adds a few French classics to the menu here, like a tarte flambé and seasonal pastas like a Dungeness crab rigatoni with espelette chile and citrus tomato butter. Brunch brings warm croissants with seasonal jam, and a Croque Soigne with Paris ham, trumpet mushrooms, gruyere, mornay, and a sunny-side-up egg. The swirly sundae is always there if you need it, dieu merci.
The Feldmans definitely know how to brasserie. You enter through 300-year-old Tunisian iron gates into a patio of climbing roses and boxwood hedges. They drew inspiration from their favorite Parisian dining room, at Café Charlot; and with linen bistro curtains, antique mirrors, and cozy banquettes, the place definitely evokes a night out after, say, strolling the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Interestingly, the new Coucou location is just down the road from the long-ago Beverly Hills celebrity hotspot Romanoff’s, where Jesse’s grandparents, Tex and Jayne Feldman, once threw an infamous New Year’s Eve party to ring in 1957. Edith Piaf performed, LIFE magazine chronicled the festivities, and the legend endures—remarkably Grandma Jayne Feldman Berger is still with us at age 107 and resides in Bel Air.
Clearly, the knack for hosting unforgettable evenings runs in the family.
Coucou is open daily from 5pm-11pm with that Calacatta Viola marble bar open until midnight Friday and Saturday; weekend brunch is from 11am-2pm on Saturday and Sunday.