Can a forgotten hotspot regain its cool?

Anya Firestone's job as a luxury tour guide in Paris has taken her to many special corners of the city. But only recently did she do something that countless locals and visitors have done over the past 130 years: make a reservation at Maxim's, the legendary French restaurant that opened in 1893 and has hosted the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Margrethe II of Denmark, Jean Cocteau, Jane Birkin and Man Ray among his patrons.

“It was packed,” Ms. Firestone, 35, said of the night she ate there in late November. “There was energy — Maxim's ghosts are probably happy.

Ms. Firestone, who has lived in Paris on and off since 2010, had not tried dining there before because the restaurant “disappeared from my radar,” she said, partly because she didn't know if it still operated as a restaurant. restaurant. She wasn't alone in that perception.

“Many people, even most, didn't know it was open as a restaurant,” said Pierre Pelegry, a director at Maxim's who worked there for 27 years and was hired by Pierre Cardin, the French fashion designer, after he bought the restaurant. in 1981.

The focus at Maxim's had shifted to private events in recent years, Mr. Pelegry said, and for a time it was open only to diners Wednesday through Saturday. It resumed daily bookings in November, two months after the Paris Society, a French hospitality group, took over operations as part of a deal with the Cardin family. (Mr. Cardin died in 2020; his heirs have since been embroiled in a battle over his estate.)

The three-story space, with a small stage on the ground floor, has long been a favorite of the fashion set. Fendi plans to hold an event there this month during Paris couture week, and last year Maxim hosted Valentino and Dior's parties. Alexa Buckley Roussel, a shoe designer, and Alexandre Roussel, whose father is a fashion manager, had the welcome party for their wedding at the restaurant in September.

“Maxim's transports you,” said Ms. Buckley Roussel, 32, “and we wanted to give our guests a real immersion.”

Over the decades, Maxim's has been recognized for its food (it once had three Michelin stars) and for its interior design, which includes bronze elements, velvet upholstery, stained glass and other details characteristic of the Art Nouveau style that became popular after the restaurant. first opened in the late 19th century. The space has been used as a location for films, including “Gigi” and the 1952 version of “Moulin Rouge,” and for Vogue photo shoots.

In 1979, the interior was designated a historic monument by the French government. Cordélia de Castellane, the Paris Society's artistic advisor charged with revamping Maxim's look, said the designation gave the restaurant's new operator little opportunity to change the look. But she largely agreed: When she was asked to help take over the hospitality group, she remembers thinking, “I'll take the job, but I won't touch anything!”

Ms de Castellane, 42, who is also artistic director of Dior's baby and home lines, said her “little interventions” at Maxim included new floral coverings for banquets and changing the shades of table lamps from a reddish to a pinkish hue .

She also tweaked the restaurant's logo, which under Mr. Cardin's ownership had become a stylized M that she said looked “too much” like McDonald's golden arches.

After Mr. Cardin bought Maxim's, it began to function as a brand: new locations opened in New York and around the world, some of which have since closed, and the restaurant's name appeared on products such as luggage and kitchenware.

Amanda Lear, a model and singer from Paris who previously wrote gossip columns for British publications, said in an email that Maxim's had “lost its magic” because of those efforts to grow the company.

In the 1970s, Ms. Lear often ate at the restaurant with Salvador Dalí. “Each guest had to pass in front of their table as they entered the room and of course they came over to salute,” she said.

More recently, she went there to perform at last year's Dior event, where she sang “Fashion Pack,” a disco single she released in 1979. The text contains the line 'In Paris you will be seen at Maxim's.'

Ms. Lear was cautiously optimistic about the restaurant's new operator and its next chapter.

“Hopefully they will bring it back to life,” she said. “But I'm not sure that today's rock stars and Kardashians will succeed in bringing back the glamor of this historic place.”