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Epic Feuds. For the customer who failed to appreciate his fare, Soule reserved an icy stare. To the diner who bickered over the check he delivered his ultimate gesture of contempt: puffing himself up to his full height (5 ft. 5 in.), he would rip up the check and say, "Good night. You have been guests of Le Pavilion."
His few feuds were epic. The late Harry Cohn, then president of Columbia Pictures, became so furious because he was consistently poorly seated that he bought the building housing Le Pavilion. Soule kept right on seating Cohn in Siberia. Cohn raised the rent. Soule simply moved his restaurant, at a cost of some $400,000, out of the building. His impossibly high standards in the kitchen led to endless resignations, all to the ultimate benefit of gastronomes, for those who left today preside over many of Manhattan's best restaurants. He had become what all restaurateurs aspire to be—the perfect professional.