From Lyon to Smith Street
Émile Dupont grew up just outside Lyon, where Sunday lunches ran for hours and the market set the menu. He trained in the city's old-guard kitchens before spending six years on the line at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris — learning the discipline of French cooking and, eventually, what he wanted to leave behind.
In 2021 he traded Paris for Brooklyn and opened Le Comptoir d'Émile on Smith Street. The idea was simple: the seasonal French cooking he grew up on, stripped of ceremony — great produce, a short menu, natural wine, and a room where regulars and first-timers sit shoulder to shoulder.
Émile in the dining room, before service.
What's good and close is what's for dinner.
Sourced close, cooked simply
We source from local farms within 100 miles and let the week's harvest write the menu — which is why it changes every six weeks. Nothing leaves the pass with foam or tweezers; we'd rather you taste the carrot than admire it.
The open kitchen, mid-service.
How We Work
From market to table
Four steps, every week. It's why the menu never sits still — and why a carrot in October tastes nothing like the same plate in June.
Walk the market
Each week starts at the farms within 100 miles. We buy what's best that morning, not what's on a standing order.
Write the menu
The harvest sets the plates. The card stays short and is rewritten every six weeks as the season turns.
Cook it simply
Classic French technique in service of the ingredient — no foam, no tweezers, nothing to hide behind.
Pour the natural wine
Julien pairs each dish from an all-natural cellar, glass or bottle, familiar or pleasantly strange.
The Team
A small crew that runs the room like a dinner party.
Émile Dupont
Chef & Owner
Lyon-born, Paris-trained. Cooks the menu he grew up eating and still works the pass most nights.
Seasonal menus · Charcuterie · Sauces
Camille Moreau
Sous Chef
Brooklyn native who came up through the city's farm-to-table kitchens. Runs the line and the farmers' standing orders.
Pastry · Vegetables · Fermentation
Julien Roy
Sommelier
Keeper of the all-natural wine list. Will happily pour you something strange if you let him.
Natural wine · Loire whites · Pairings
Come sit at the comptoir
Pull up a seat at the bar or book a table for the night. We'll take it from there.