Faubourg is a seasonal French restaurant inspired by the semi-rural outer arrondissements of Paris- akin to Montclair’s vicinity to NYC. This concept led to repurposing an 8500 ft2 historic bank that opens to the exterior and exhibits a clear delineation between new buildout and existing character. The project is owned and run by 20 year Daniel Boulud alums Dominique Paulin and Chef Olivier Muller.

The design relocates the original entry guiding patrons through a trellised garden, past the indoor/outdoor bar. Main Dining and circulation promotes a voyeuristic experience- large open dining is sectioned into small ‘rooms’ by pickled mahogany banquette partitions capped with clear sealed walnut. A bi-level, glass-enclosed wine room is a counterpoint opposite the main Carrara marble bar, clad in undulating gloss lacquered wood with a base cement tile step. Twin plastered arches recall rural architecture. The lounge accesses the exterior terrace.

The changing seasonal ingredients and twist on French classics inspired a design strategy of imaginative assemblage. As patrons move through space and sit at different locations, their perspective changes offering a view of custom blackened-steel lights as many incomplete parts and elsewhere an empirical whole. Surfaces are composed of familiar materials shaped into contemporary lines.