After two years in business at 234 Townsend, Les Clos is going to close in January and get a major makeover at the hands of Anna Weinberg and her Big Night Restaurant Group, which now operates four successful restaurants in the city — Marlowe, Park Tavern, The Cavalier, and Leo's Oyster Bar. The idea is to take the Paris wine bar/cafe concept that Saison wine director Mark Bright already established and zhuzh it up in even more Parisian fashion, reopening it by March as Petit Marlowe Wine & Oysterette, according to Inside Scoop.

Weinberg will, as she has with all her restaurants, be working with designer Ken Fulk, and she tells Eater, "It’s going to be a gorgeous French wine bar menu, plus raw bar because it went so well at Leo’s. It’s going to be adorable. We went to the [Les Puces de Saint-Ouen flea market in Paris] with Ken Fulk and bought all the furniture there, back bar, chairs and everything.” Also, reportedly, they brought back crystal chandeliers, brass cocktail tables, and they'll be replacing the single-plank wood bar with a marble one.

Bright opened Les Clos in 2014 with the intention of making it a casual, neighborhood hangout with a focus on fine (primarily French) wine, and Michael Bauer in reviewing the place in May wrote, "Few places channel the ambience of a casual French cafe better than Les Clos." And, reportedly, Bright will remain in a consulting role on the wine — and indeed, as a buyer and collector who originally had the vision for the place, he's probably the best person for the job. He intends to bring some even rarer Burgundy into the mix as the place becomes Petit Marlowe.

Bright tells Eater, "I never had plans to close the space, but they’ve been approaching me for a while. [And] I have a lot of other projects going on and a great relationship with them, so it felt like the right time for them to take over.”

Chef-partner Jennifer Puccio, who's been behind the menus at all of the group's restaurants, will be adding raw bar selections in addition to a wine-friendly but light sounding menu of charcuterie, cheese, salads, and steak tartare. But it sounds like the larger, hot, bistro-style dishes like coq au vin will be going away, making this more of a wine-and-snack destination like Leo's Oyster Bar.

Les Clos will shutter on January 15 and reopen after what sounds like a six- to eight-week remodel. Look for Petit Marlowe to debut in March 2017 — and possibly win some design awards.


Petit Marlowe Wine & Oysterette - 234 Townsend between 3rd and 4th Streets - Opening March 2017