A day in the life of a husband-and-wife chef duo running a top New York City restaurant

Antoine Boullay is chef du cuisine at New York City restaurant L'Appart, which he runs with his wife and sous chef, Alice Douay.

• Antoine Boullay and Alice Douay met while training at one of France's best culinary schools.
• The chef de cuisine and sous chef of L'Appart start their day at 9:30 a.m. and end around midnight.
• Even on days off, the chefs — and married couple — say they are always talking about the restaurant.

The lights are dim, house music is playing quietly, and from the couch, you can see the final touches of dinner being prepared before it comes to the table.

You're not at a friend's dinner party, you're at L'Appart, the five time Michelin-starred restaurant whose name aptly translates to "the apartment." 

L'Appart opened in 2016, and under its former executive chef Nicolas Abello, it won Michelin stars every year from 2017 to 2021.

Now, the French restaurant is headed by Antoine Boullay, and his wife and sous chef Alice Douay. The two chefs are originally from France and met while studying at one of France's best culinary schools, École Grégoire-Ferrandi in Paris.

Together with their line cook Andrew Tu and apprentice Maxime Olszanski, the pair run the kitchen, while maître d' Jerome Bougherdani, who is also from France, greets diners at the front.

Boullay came to New York after he was the only student in his class to volunteer when chefs from Le District, New York City's French food hall, visited, looking for cooks and apprentices to come to the US.

While no two days at L'Appart are exactly alike, Boullay and Douay talked to Insider about what a day in their lives looks like leading the restaurant together.

11 a.m. - Start preparing for evening service

Boullay and Douay wake up around 9:30 a.m. and arrive at the restaurant around 11 a.m. or 12 p.m.

"The way you break down your day, you're going to start with the longest things to do," Boullay said. "Then after, you do the little things with details."

Both chefs start the day preparing produce, cutting the meats and fish, and cleaning out the dishwasher for evening service which begins at 5 p.m. 

On Tuesdays, the restaurant receives most of its orders of produce for the week. 

Most of the food the restaurant uses is local, with vegetables from New Jersey or the Union Square Farmers Market, and fish and meat from the US. Foie gras comes from the Hudson Valley in upstate New York, Boullay said. Pork chops are sourced from a family-owned farm in Iowa.

"It's great to promote producers like this," Boullay said. "Zero" cheese in the kitchen at L'Appart comes from France, he added.

During the early afternoon prep, Douay is usually responsible for preparing garnishes for desserts, like a tellicherry pepper mousse, garnished with pink lady apple and cooked in a celeriac extraction caramel.

3:30 p.m. - A meal together before the night begins

After preparation is done, the four-person team has a break and shares a meal together. 

At 4 p.m., the tablecloths and linens are spread, and the cooking stations start firing up.

Just before service begins, the kitchen does a preview of reservations for the evening, noting any allergies and food restrictions guests have listed.

Douay said that half the job of running a kitchen is having fun and the other half is solving problems.

Anything can go wrong in the restaurant, Boullay said. A supplier can be unable to make a delivery, the dishwasher can break, or the fridges can shut down, and the chefs have to be able to react quickly.

"People are paying an important price for their menu, so they should have the best and not feel any issue that we have in the back of the house," Boullay said. 

5 p.m. - Service begins

Dinner service is usually between 5 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., Boullay said, adding that the restaurant's tasting menu experience lasts around two hours.

The 28-seat restaurant, which is open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner, is fully booked most of the time, Boullay said. Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest nights.

L'Appart offers a 5-course tasting menu that changes every four weeks depending on what produce is in season. The current menu includes dishes like Royal Ossetra Caviar and live diver scallops.

By having a limited menu, the chefs said they are able to keep food waste low. 

"As a fine dining restaurant, we try to offer the best experience to our customers," Boullay said. "Because the menu is renewed every four weeks, we have to renew ourselves a lot."

Depending on how quickly or slowly people eat, the chefs may have to rush to make and serve each course.

"It's a kind of game you need to play every night," he said. 

L'Appart is an open kitchen, so diners can watch the chefs prepare their meals. Douay's back is usually turned to the dining room while she prepares desserts, and Boullay and the other two chefs face the dining room.

Boullay plates the food to be sent out, while Tu and Olszanski prepare plates and ingredients for the next courses. 

When the diners are present, Boullay and Douay try to avoid speaking French so everyone can understand them. But if there's a rush, the pair speak French, which Boullay said is faster and more clear.

12 a.m. - Time to go home

After dinner service winds down, the kitchen starts cleaning each station; the refrigerators and freezers are checked to make sure they are working for the morning; and the trash is taken out. 

The chefs leave around midnight or 1 a.m. 

Even on their days off and at home, Boullay and Douay are always talking about what's next on the menu.

"We are never disconnected from the restaurant," Boullay said. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing, because we are very involved and love what we do."