By hello
Status: Closed in 1916. (fr.wikipedia.org) Literary passage: “our Saturdays at the Cafe Riche at seven-thirty.” — Guy de Maupassant, Bel-Ami. (gutenberg.org) Why it matters: Café Riche is a boulevard room for assignations and semi-public privacy. In Bel-Ami, the private dining room allows flirtation, social testing, and conversational maneuver under cover of dinner. The venue also appears in Balzac and Zola, which fits its reputation as a place where luxury and intrigue were meant to be seen together. It is less a neutral restaurant than a theater box with waiters. (fr.wikipedia.org)