L'Elegant

L'Elegant (formerly L'Elegance) is restaurant in Kensington, London, which has been owned by the celebrity Jeremiah Creosote since 1994. Serving French Cuisine, it opened on 8th May 1982 and received intimidate praise for its high-quality food and service. Under Creosote reviews worsened and L'Elegant's profits plummeted, causing its closure in 2005.

Creosote re-opened L'Elegant at the same location after a bidding war for the property in 2016. It has since enjoyed favourable reviews.

As L'Elegance
L'Elegance was opened in 1982 by Maximilian Brodeur, a successful French businessman and chef from Lyon who had always dreamed of opening a restaurant in a capital city. He had planned the enterprise for many years, recruiting some of the finest chefs he had met in the industry, and having them agree to give up their current jobs when he eventually opened a restaurant in exchange for high wages and other perks. While Brodeur's own cooking skills were relatively unremarkable, his way with business and accounting were praised by those who worked with him, and by the early 1980s he had the funds necessary to buy a property in central London and transform it into a restaurant. Thanks to the employment of good chefs, the food at L'Elegance was immediately praised by critics and customers. Constant improvements to the service and some original recipes saw it earn its Michelin 3 stars a few years later. It was often mocked by Londoners and the press as being overly upper-class, with door staff refusing anyone not in expensive dinner clothing. The interiors and decoration didn't help matters, with one critic remarking, "when one enters its like stepping back into the 1920s".

Ownership Change
Mr Creosote first dined in L'Elegance in 1989, while in London for the Stained Tablecloth Tour. He immediately formed a liking for its upper class style and its food, and became a full-time patron. After acquiring his manor in Scotland, he was forced to make less regular visits, but still made an internal flight from Inverness to Heathrow at least once a month just to dine there. He became increasingly interested in its business affairs, able to discuss them directly with Brodeur due to his generous patronage of the establishment.

By 1990 there was a noticeable drop in profits, and the regular improvements and changes ceased. Now it was well established, Brodeur increasingly took a hands off approach, focusing on other business projects. This neglect, and the rise in competitors in the late 80s as the economy improved, saw L'Elegance fall behind somewhat among London restaurants, and by its 10th anniversary in 1992 it was already being accused of being out of date.

Mr Creosote had recently come into an enormous inheritance from the death of his father, and offered a very generous sum to take the struggling business off Brodeur, assuring him it was 'in safe hands'.

Creosote renamed the restaurant L'Elegant almost immediately, his previous liking for the word was shown in the song L'Elegant Sunset and the film Murder on L'Elegant Express!. While it was left to 'tick over' for the remainder of the 90s, L'Elegant was increasingly interfered with by Creosote's visits, where he would 'play manager' and make inexplicable changes. In 2000 he took up the role officially, and began making full time menu and staff changes, mostly for the worse, and the restaurant lost its 3 star rating in 2001, going into steep decline, with longer waits for service, and poorer food.

Kitchen Nightmares Episode
Creosote agreed to feature L'Elegant on Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares in 2005 in the hopes of saving it from its predicament, but what followed was described as 'one of the most bizarre episodes of the show'.

Creosote evaded the cameras for the majority of the filming, refusing to appear during dinner service and leaving his staff to take the flack for his practices. By his second day at the restaurant, Ramsay stated that he had realized 'who the culprit was' and blamed the absent owner for the problems. He then refused to resume the programme as normal, until Creosote presented himself.

The episode concluded with the audio from a meeting between Ramsey and Creosote, where Ramsey listed all of the faults and flaws he found in the last two days. This included menu troubles, poor decorations, cooking practises and wasteful storage methods. Creosote dismissed all of these out of hand, and claimed L'Elegant had been the subject of a media smear campaign orchestrated by George Hudson. Once it became apparent Creosote would not make the changes suggested, Ramsay leaves the restaurant for good.

Closure
After the episode was aired profits plummeted further, largely as it revealed some unpalatable foods and preparation. Creosote denied the estimate of a loss of £5,000 a day, claiming business was "better than ever". Besides the waste on produce, the restaurant spent 4 months with both air conditioning and heating running at full, as Creosote became too hot and turned up the air conditioning, forgetting to adjust the heating itself. Staff were too fearful to correct him on this decision. However, as Creosote Inc.'s own fortunes took a downward turn, Creosote could no longer afford to prop the business, and he announced its closure in July.

In a last-ditch attempt to save face, he announced a final night 'regulars whip around' to 'keep this artery of the London dining scene alive'. Which failed miserably, only garnering 1 donation of £2,000 from friend Augustus Constantine.

Money Laundering Allegations
In 2007 HMRC investigated claims that L'Elegant had been used as a front for money laundering, as it had filed a turnover approaching £8 million in the years 2000 and 2001, despite being 'almost always empty or closed' according to members of the public. Civil servants of the department had raised this issue internally a the time, only for it to be quashed by 'higher-ups'. Shortly after, L'Elegant's reported income dropped drastically.

It has been alleged that Creosote rustled up some of his father's old cronies at the HMRC to defeat the investigation. Several employees were found to have mishandled evidence and lost their jobs, only to be instantly seated in high-paying positions at Creosote Inc. However, their actions meant the investigation had to be thrown out due to the threat of a mistrial should it ever come to court.

Reopening-present
In 2015 Creosote announced his intentions to ‘bring back mah favourite restaurant’ in a radio interview. In early 2016 a series of mysterious break ins to the building which had formerly been L’Elegant resulted in no stolen property. Its owner, a hotel chain, then experienced an ‘unexplainable’ lapse in customers, causing it to put the property up for sale.

Jeremiah took ownership in May 2016 and announced his plan to re-open L’Elegant by September. Developments in his musical career and other business pursuits caused delays, but L’Elegant re-opened in December to a round of good reviews. Customers praised the high-quality French food, alongside an image built around Jeremiah’s personality. Key among the new decorations was an enormous champagne bottle – constructed out of wood - which sat at the centre of the dining room, reaching through the floor of the upstairs gallery and towards the ceiling. Around its base was the restaurant bar. The bottle was dismantled in 2017 after its paint began to deteriorate and Jeremiah acknowledged the ‘novelty was wearing’. In 2021 he announced the bottle would be returning, this time housing tables inside it at a height between the ground and first floors.

L’Elegant has maintained a reputation for high quality food and service at a relatively good price, after Jeremiah insisted on streamlining the menus to a ‘perfected selection’. Some food critics have criticized the food as ‘borderline pub level’, lamenting the loss of the restaurant’s 1980s gourmet reputation, as well as its cartoonish décor, decried as ‘Disneyland Creosote’.