Fifty years ago this October, on Paris’s Left Bank, two siblings in their 20s opened Le Bernardin, a small seafood restaurant named after an order of monks who were also firm believers in the pleasures of the table. It would go on to expand to New York City and establish itself as one of the world’s most acclaimed dining destinations. “I guess it lasted,” says Maguy Le Coze, who co-founded Le Bernardin with her brother, Gilbert Le Coze, in 1972. Upstairs, a small legion of chefs, sous chefs, line cooks, sauciers, managers, captains, dedicated fish butchers and sommeliers, including the famed Aldo Sohm, is preparing for service. If the day proceeds as most usually do here, they will welcome up to 100 diners for lunch and another 160 for dinner.

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