The Coquette Dining Room Is Classic Yet Contemporary

Photo by Richard Cadan

From left to right:

Brick arches, whitewashed with faint hints of pastel, lead in to the formal dining room. 

Six styles of porcelain lamps from Spanish company Lladró were customized with warm-temperature LED lights to create a moody atmosphere.

Ornate custom red Murano glass chandeliers hang from the ceiling, complementing the circular burgundy leather booths.

The french white-oak floor was made in Paris. 

Contemporary and classical art are at odds throughout the restaurant. In the formal dining rooms, classical takes the lead, with artist Julia Purinton’s re-creations of the circa 1896 The Seasons paintings by Alphonsa Mucha, which depict a woman personifying the four seasons. 

Aiming to produce a restaurant that’s equal parts classical, elegant, flirty, and contemporary might seem like an impossible task—but the fun is in the dichotomy. At least that’s the case at Coquette, the coastal French- and Spanish-inspired restaurant at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport, characterized by its pastel color palette, luxurious textiles, and dreamy artwork. The impetus for the design came from a trip that COJE Management Group owner Chris Jamison and his business partner took to the surf-centric beachside town of Biarritz, France. “There’s this interesting juxtaposition of an airy, beachy part of the world that has a ton of Parisian elegance to it as well,” says Jamison. “We tried to seamlessly blend those two ideas.”

This duality is apparent in every corner of the moody, well-appointed space. COJE’s in-house design team worked from the outside in, starting with the exposed brick arches to separate the main dining area and the more casual bar area, then outfitting them both with raw materials like marble tabletops, burgundy leather booths, and French white-oak floors, all offset with whimsical art and décor—most notably, iridescent walls and re-creations of 18th- and 19th-century paintings by two local artists.

But the beauty of Coquette is that the closer you look, the more there is to see. “Attention to detail is what makes a space feel the way it does, but is not necessarily visible or obvious to anybody who’s dining there,” says Jamison. “We’re crazy about those details.”