Inside Boucherie’s New Upper West Side Brasserie

Opening-night reporting from Boucherie Upper West Side: a kitchen interview with a chef, stained glass and live music, including “Les Champs-Élysées.”

By David Shusterman · Editor, The Circuit Report · Published November 06, 2026

The long stained-glass vault is Boucherie Upper West Side’s most persuasive introduction. It draws the eye above the tables toward a stage, giving the dining room a sense of occasion before anyone has opened a menu. On November 5, the night before the restaurant’s announced public opening, an ensemble supplied another reason to look up from the table.

The photographs capture a room already in motion: white tablecloths, globe lights, plants at the edges of the stage and musicians close enough to remain part of the dinner. Outside, the illuminated frontage and greenery give the Columbus Avenue sidewalk a warmer edge. Inside, the scale changes. The stained glass turns the length of the room into its defining view.

A brasserie with a stage

The restaurant’s own listing places the new address at 444 Columbus Avenue. Boucherie describes it as an all-day French brasserie, with a meat program, wine and cocktails, and interiors inspired by the Belle Époque.

Those ambitions are easiest to understand through the room. The architecture gives an ordinary dinner the frame of an evening out. At the November 5 celebration, strings, guitar and drums occupied the stage beneath the colored glass; tables nearby remained part of the same scene. The music pictured here belongs to that evening, rather than a promise about the entertainment on every future visit.

The most effective detail is the line of sight. From the dining area, the vaulted ceiling keeps drawing attention toward the performers. The lamps and plants bring the view back down to the tables, making the room feel furnished for dinner as well as for a photograph.

In the kitchen: a conversation with the chef

During the November 5 celebration, we stepped into the kitchen to ask one of Boucherie’s chefs what he most enjoys on the menu. “I’m a seafood person,” he told The Circuit Report, describing roughly eight years of work in a seafood restaurant before discussing the food at the new address.

The conversation then turned to the balance between French cooking and lighter preferences. “We have to adapt,” he said, while discussing the food’s French character. It was a short exchange in a busy kitchen, with service continuing around him—a closer view of the opening than the dining room alone could provide.

Watch the complete opening-night conversation below, with its original sound.

The work behind the room

The kitchen footage supplies a useful counterpoint. Away from the glass and the stage, cooks move between stainless-steel work surfaces, with stacked plates overhead and preparation taking place at several stations. The contrast gives the opening its substance: an elaborate dining room depends on work that looks considerably less theatrical.

The room and the kitchen give this first look its two rhythms: the measured occasion at the tables and the concentrated activity behind them. The stage draws attention, but the kitchen is what will keep the room moving through service.

The new address

Boucherie’s official page lists November 6–8 dinner hours of 5 p.m. to midnight, followed by an all-day schedule beginning at 11 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends. Readers planning a visit should use the restaurant’s current location and reservation page.

The opening adds a distinctly theatrical room to the neighborhood’s dining choices. Its attraction is visible in the photographs: an evening can unfold around a table while the ceiling, the lights and the stage keep offering something else to notice.

The evening’s musical finish

The music gave the room another way to feel French. Toward the end of the evening’s performance, “Les Champs-Élysées” brought a familiar refrain beneath the stained glass. The short film below preserves that moment with the original opening-night sound, alongside an instrumental scene from the ensemble.

Photographs and scenes from the evening

Selected original photographs and clearly identified frames from event footage.

Watch the opening night

More from The Circuit Report

Explore Dining & Openings and our Bar Bas opening report.

More articles

Keep reading

Food & Nightlife · New York

Downstairs at Bar Bas: An Opening Celebration in Hell’s Kitchen

Caviar, a welcoming lounge and a feather-fan performance by Stefaniya Makarova marked the opening of Bar Bas, with our complete opening-night album and details for a return visit.

The Week Ahead · October 26–November 1

The Week Ahead: Museum Nights, Giving and Halloween, October 26–November 1

Eight picks for Halloween week: the Frick, City Harvest, Harlem comedy, sacred music, ASRM Prom and costume parties in New York and Miami.

The Week Ahead · October 21–27

The Week Ahead: Galas, Champagne and Museum Nights, October 21–27

Our October 21–27 picks: Many Hopes, Champagne Week, Hulaween, NAB at Javits, Art Basel Paris, Gatsby in Southampton and museum nights.