There’s another great restaurant in town – and this one hosts a weekday dinner series.
Tourmaline, which serves French-inspired cuisine, opens in Forest Hills on June 25.
The head chef is Yvan Lemoine, whose resume includes stints with La Caravelle, Le Cirque, and Fleur de Sel in Manhattan as well as Le Neuvième Art, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Lyon, France. The Cornell graduate also made a name for himself with Giada de Laurentiis’s team on Food Network Star, Chopped, and Univision’s Despierta America.
The menu will evolve with the seasons. Summer noshes include such appetizers as Eggs in a Nest, Celery Root Latkas with Smoked Salmon Mousse, Cornbread with Butter Poached Lobster and Succotash, Duck Liver Parfait with White Peaches and Rose Essence, and Crispy Pork Shoulder with Sour Orange and Tahini.
Duck a la Press, a traditional French dish that’s a specialty at Daniel Boulud’s NYC restaurant Daniel and La Tour d’Argent in Paris, is coming soon.
Located at 106-17 Metropolitan Ave., Tourmaline’s 34-seat dining room has a tree-shaded 1,500-square-foot garden with a special menu rooted in seasonality and local sourcing.
Sounds like a nice space, but let’s get back to the food. Chef Lemoine has teamed with Murray’s Cheese to offer table-rolled Fromage with artisanal breads and seasonal jams. The dessert menu includes Chocolate Moelleux, a Rhubarb Pavlova with Salted Pistachios, and a seasonal Tarte Tatin with Intelligentsia Coffee.
Pastry Chef Jesse Domenech is also a chocolatier from Manhattan’s three-starred Michelin Le Bernardin and one-starred Michelin Le Coucou.
Nicole Muscari, a proud Forest Hills resident, curates the wine program. A certified French wine scholar with a degree from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, she overflows with products from Champagne, Burgundy, and the Loire, but Muscari’s selection also highlights New York producers and small growers from Italy and Portugal.
Then, there are the special events. Tourmaline is housed in the same building as My Kitchen, a banquet-and-catering venue that Chef Lemoine owns with his wife, Rebecca Sussman. From this space, General Manager Matt Archambault plans to host Thursday Tasting Events, featuring winemakers, brewers, cider makers, authors, and other purveyors of deliciousness.
“At Tourmaline, we are recreating the intimate environments I’ve experienced along my journey,” Chef Lemoine stated. “As a young chef starting out, I was always inspired by how Cyril Renaud, with a small husband and wife team, could create such a fine dining restaurant as Fleur de Sel. This is what I found again in Le Neuvième Art in Lyon with Chef Christophe Roure and Madame Roure. I want to deliver a creative experience rooted in French technique and inspired by the beauty of nature and the seasons with global and American flavors.”
Tourmaline’s regular hours are Wednesday-Friday at 5 pm and occasional weekends. Click here to make reservations. For more information, visit Tourmalinennyc.com and follow Tourmaline.nyc on Instagram.
The Team
Yvan Lemoine
Chef Yvan Lemoine was executive chef at Gitano NYC and Union Fare and chef de cuisine at Bodega Negra and Dream Hotel Downtown. Tapped for his expertise as a mixologist, he opened the Tao Group’s Lavo, Arlington Club, and Surf Lodge.
Born in Venezuela, Chef Lemoine moved to Brooklyn at age 13. He attended Long Island City High School, where he was introduced to fine dining with help from the Careers through Culinary Arts Program. At age 15, he began his career in the French Manhattan restaurant La Caravelle with Chef Cyril Renaud. He then went on to work with Jacques Torres at Le Cirque 2000, then with Rocco Dispirito and Sam Mason. He’s cooked for dignitaries and royalty at the French consulate in NYC. In 2015, he was awarded the Daniel Boulud/ Paul Bocuse full scholarship and attended Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France. He then had the opportunity to work at Le Neuvieme Art, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Lyon with Chef Christophe Roure MOF. He studied for a Master’s in Hospitality Management from Cornell University and is the author of two books: Food Fest 365!: The Officially Fun Food Holiday Cookbook and Comidas USA.
Rebecca Sussman
Rebecca Sussman is an actress and hospitality professional who is also Tourmaline’s co-owner and director of events and Chef Lemoine’s wife. Since 2015, she has been a recurring background actor on Saturday Night Live, appearing in a wide variety of featured roles. She has also appeared in several national commercials, independent films, and television projects.
Parallel to her acting career, Sussman began in hospitality in 2010 when Tao Group Hospitality hired her as a hostess to open Lavo Italian Restaurant in New York City. She quickly rose through the ranks and became head maitre d’, overseeing the openings of Tao Downtown in the Meatpacking district, as well as Avra Madison Estiatorio, a renowned Greek restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. In 2020, she left Avra Madison to join her husband as director of events at My Kitchen.
Matt Archambault
Most recently, General Manager Matt Archambault helped shape the West Queens craft beer scene, managing front-of-house operations at taprooms like Fifth Hammer Brewing and Focal Point Beer Co as well as The Wolfhound and Oliver’s in Astoria. He’s the host of Brewed in New York, an Emmy Award-winning PBS travelogue (13 episodes for 13 regions of the state.)
Jesse Domenech
Queens native Jesse Domenech honed his pastry and chocolate talent in the three-Michelin-starred Le Bernardin and the one-starred Michelin Le Coucou. He was also head chocolatier at Aigner Chocolates, which is also on Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills. He was first introduced to the world of pastry, desserts, and chocolate when he attended Food and Finance High School in Manhattan.
Nicole Muscari
Wine Director Nicole Muscari created Grape Chic in late 2017. The blog and social media platform is dedicated to making wine approachable, enjoyable, and relatable. She is also a private client wine consultant and an instructor at the Sommelier Society of America.
Images courtesy of Joyce Appelbaum