Florent Documentary Opens!

By Michael Musto Mon., May 16 2011 at 9:30 AM

The restaurant Florent pioneered the Meatpacking District in the '80s, but after 23 years it was driven out by the neighborhood's success, which it spearheaded to begin with!

Gentrification came around and kicked them right in the Bastille Day costumes.

But, ah, while it lasted!

With Florent Morellet at the helm, the eatery was a casual, crazy, intimate, eccentric magnet for bohemians, famous people, and oglers, all thrilling to the ambience, not to mention the daily specials board, which included Florent's HIV diary entries!

Well, the documentary Florent, Queen of the Meat Market opens this Friday at Cinema Village, and it's a feast.

Check it out -- not only to see my own stunning appearances, but to take in the likes of Julianne Moore, Diane von Furstenberg, and Florent himself waxing poetic about a fairy-dusted time in New York ingesting.

You'll also learn how, sadly enough, "Florent" became "For rent."

We Recommend

Movielover

I met him once and thought he was a lot of fun. I don't think he cared that I didn't know who he was, and the restaurant, "I've heard of it."

Margie Silverman

Absolutely ... Florent wouldn't expect you to have heard of him! He doesn't think of himself as some sort of a celebrity, just a person who happened to own a very cool restaurant. It's quite a crime that it had to close in my humble opinion!

Margie Silverman

If they re-opened Florent, I'd move back to New York!

Abe Van Meter

The bottom of the menu boards charted his up & down T-cell count. They weren't his diary entries (unfortunately!) The menu boards were written by a series of people, beginning with Tibor Kalman and concluding with Tom Eubanks--also in the movie. There's even a font called 'florent' one can order online that resembles the white letters on a black menu board.

Chad Darnell

Saw this movie at Outfest last year. It's amazing. Must see.

Ilka

They would have spontanoues drag and/or performance shows, they had a huge Bastille Day event, the pioneered all kinds of graphic art with political messages. It was indeed a magical place and time.