Acclaimed Savannah restaurant The Grey opens sister restaurant in Paris
One of the jewels of Savannah’s restaurant scene has opened a sister restaurant in Paris called L’Arrêt by The Grey.
The Grey announced the opening of its new overseas outpost Tuesday on social media. L’Arrêt means “the stop” in French, a reference to The Grey’s location in a meticulously reimagined midcentury Greyhound bus station in Savannah. The design echoes The Grey and its other businesses with a dark green facade and midcentury influenced signage.
The team behind The Grey, executive chef Mashama Bailey and her business partner John O. Morisano, spent about six weeks living in Paris several years ago as they worked to finish their 2021 book “Black, White, and The Grey.” Early in her career, Bailey spent time traveling in France before moving into the pressure cooker of the New York restaurant scene, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
The Grey’s announcement about L’Arrêt’s opening struck a cautious tone; in recent years, the restaurant has closed multiple ancillary businesses. Its secondary Savannah restaurant and shop, The Grey Market, shut down in 2023, while two related restaurants in Austin, Texas, closed last year.
“(We) kindly ask that you be patient with us,” the announcement said. “We’re doing this slowly. We’re not getting on the open-the-perfect-restaurant Hamster Wheel. We just can’t. The fact that we made it this far is a victory worth savoring.”
The Parisian restaurant will at first be open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., the announcement said. The menu will focus on breakfast and lunch with a few specials added in the evenings. Saturday brunch will be added in August, and they plan to introduce true dinner service Sept. 8, according to the announcement.
L’Arrêt is in Paris’ 7th arrondissement, three blocks south of the Seine and walking distance from the Musee d’Orsay and the Louvre, which is just across the river. The restaurant is surrounded by art galleries and antique shops, and is about a 5-minute walk from the Rue du Bac metro station.
About the Author
Henri Hollis is a reporter and restaurant critic for the Food & Dining team. Formerly a freelance writer and photographer with a focus on food and restaurants, he joined the AJC full-time in January 2021, first covering breaking news. He is a lifelong Atlantan and a graduate of Georgia Tech.
