Stephen Starr’s restaurant group has recently ended its partnership with La Mercerie, the all-day French cafe inside Roman and Williams Guild, at 53 Howard Street, between Broadway and Mercer Street in Soho.
The split comes as Starr doubles down on other high-profile New York projects, including his recent takeover of Babbo in Greenwich Village and Lupa in Soho, both acquired from the Bastianich family earlier this year. He also opened Borromini in Philadelphia, a $20 million tilt toward fancy in his hometown. That followed a team-up with Nancy Silverton to roll out Mozza in D.C., as well as signing on with Louis Vuitton to run its New York cafe.
“Starr Restaurants’ agreement with La Mercerie has reached its natural conclusion,” reads a statement from the group to Eater. “We are proud of the partnership and wish the restaurant nothing but continued success. As Starr Restaurants expands its portfolio, we remain focused on creating new dining experiences and growing in dynamic markets across the country.”
La Mercerie opened in 2017 as a collaboration between Starr Restaurants and Roman and Williams, pairing a high-end home design showroom with an ambitious cafe from chef Marie-Aude Rose. Early coverage framed it as a fully staged fantasy of a Parisian cafe where everything on the table — from the $6 croissants to the $100-plus ceramics — was for sale. Under Rose, the restaurant earned positive reviews from former Eater critic Ryan Sutton, who called it “one of the most compelling Gallic spots of the past decade.” It was a James Beard Awards finalist in 2019 for outstanding design
That early praise hinged on the (very expensive) food as much as the room. Dishes like a buckwheat crepe wrapped around creamy chicken and tarragon, a rare filet with cognac sauce, and Rose’s elaborate butter selection — from seaweed butter served with icy Kushi oysters to lemon and buckwheat butters — helped position La Mercerie as something more technical and ambitious than a typical all-day cafe. It was also a precursor to the restaurants-in-a-shop proliferation that has taken over New York beyond Louis Vuitton, with cafes in French store Printemps, Armani, and Nordstrom.
La Mercerie says that Restaurant Associates, behind dining in Lincoln Center and Conde Nast, will take over the operations side. “La Mercerie is owned by Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch of celebrated design brand Roman and Williams, with culinary collaborators chefs Marie-Aude Rose and Heloise Fischbach,” a spokesperson told Eater in a statement.
Roman and Williams, meanwhile, is expanding its own hospitality footprint. Earlier this year, the firm behind the Guild confirmed plans to run a new fine-dining restaurant inside Sotheby’s Breuer building on the Upper East Side, with Rose involved in the project. Those include fine dining French restaurant Marcel and French bakery La Mercerie Patisserie, opening in the spring of 2026.
Dining and Cooking