Location, Location
moving into an old, cherished space is a tricky thing. You don’t want to alienate the culinary historians and faithful regulars, but you can’t risk becoming a nostalgia act. Here’s a look at four iconic restaurants of the recent and distant past and how the chefs and restaurateurs who are taking them over plan to pay homage.
THEN Le Veau d’Or
For over 80 years, the Frenchiest French bistro of them all served classics like frogs’ legs provençale, poussin rôti en cocotte, and tripes à la mode de Caen
with uncommon style and grace.
Gage & Tollner
Before Peter Luger, before Junior’s—before Di Fara even—there was Gage & Tollner, the Gilded Age chophouse that opened in 1879 and closed 125 years later. In between, it became Brooklyn’s first destination restaurant and New York’s third landmarked interior; after it closed, it ignominiously morphed into a TGI Fridays, an Arby’s, and
a succession of discount clothing and jewelry shops. Thanks to that landmark status, however,
its unique, ornate interior remained intact.
Red Cat Jimmy Bradley and his then-partner Danny Abrams opened Red Cat in Chelsea in 1999,
post–gallery infiltration but pre–High Line, and until Bradley closed it last year, the place fairly defined the idea of the New York neighborhood restaurant as down-home but sort of sophisticated, with the unlikeliest signature dish ever—
tempura green beans—summing it all up.
Brasserie Les Halles
The house that Anthony Bourdain built; he started cooking there in 1998 and remained the official “chef at large” long after they stopped sending him checks. The place went belly-up in 2017.
NOW Le Veau d’Or
If anyone can be trusted not to screw up a French bistro, it’s new owners Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr of Frenchette, who as a sign of good faith are keeping the name
(and the tripe). 129 E. 60th St.; Nov.
Gage & Tollner
Three Red Hook restaurateurs were looking to open a modest bar when they stumbled into the lease for this place, and they’ve spent a good year doing the heroic work required to resuscitate a dormant institution. St. John Frizell will open the Sunken Harbor Club, a bar, on the second floor. And chef Sohui Kim is studying antique menus like a Talmudic scholar, drawing inspiration from
American classics like Edna Lewis’s she-crab soup. 372 Fulton St., Downtown Brooklyn; Dec.
Mermaid Inn Bradley and Abrams went on to open Mermaid Inn in 2003, then split amicably in 2007: Bradley
got Red Cat, Abrams took Mermaid. So with a new Mermaid branch going into the old Red Cat space, this is a homecoming of sorts for Abrams. Also: Red Cat’s opening chef, Michael Cressotti, is back running
this kitchen. 227 Tenth Ave.; Oct.
Francis & Staub
New owner, cookware designer Francis Staub, is keeping the look classic brasserie. Expect lots of stuff from Richard Farnabe’s kitchen that Bourdain would have been down with, including escargot and steak-frites. 411 Park Ave. S.; Oct.