Soon to Open: Le Croque de Monseiur
Any day now, in the space formerly occupied by The Adore on 13th.
Here is the summer newsletter from the New School giving all sorts of info about the new building. Let them eat cake!
Next week (April 1 to April 5), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors inside the building as well as roof work. We will be work on the new sidewalks around the building as well.
The following week (April 8 to April 12), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors and roofs as well as sidewalk work. By then end of this week we plan to have the rest of the sidewalk on 14th street complete. Additionally we plan to begin removing the sidewalk shed along 5th ave.
This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, March 30th for interior, superstructure, sidewalk, and hoist removal related activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City.
Here’s the update:
Since Best Buy is constantly looking to build on its existing culture of innovation and tailor its stores to the needs of local customers, the electronic retail powerhouse figures, “Heck, why not open a 24-hour spot down there in New York City’s Union Square?” That’s right, Best Buy’s CEO Brian Dunn announced today that a 24-hour, 48,000 square-foot location (the old Circuit City) will open its doors at the corner of 14th Street and 4th Avenue, the heart of historic “please don’t run into me with your skateboard” Union Square, on Nov. 13. Dunn explained, “Today’s consumers have hectic lifestyles that don’t always conform to traditional retail hours. New York has long been known as the city that never sleeps.” Ye —people are lying awake at night, wishing they had a Golden Girls DVD or an Epson scanner! (Sorry, Virgin Megastore.) Maybe people really are looking to shop after 10 p.m.—the 24-hour 5th Avenue Apple Store is doing well. And there’s always the possibility of making a night of it with a bite to eat at the soon-to-come TGI Friday’s. The new location will be open each week from 8 a.m. on Monday through 12 a.m. on Sunday, re-opening for regular Sunday hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Here is a tour of several landmark cast-iron buildings in the neighborhood, including two on our block.
It’s a new era for iconic Union Square American restaurant Gotham Bar & Grill: Influential chef Alfred Portale is stepping away from the kitchen, where he spent 34 years leading the restaurant to a Michelin star and several James Beard awards. Replacing him will be former Chumley’s chef Victoria Blamey, the Times reports
Owners Jerome Kretchmer, Jeff Bliss, Robert Rathe, and Richard Rathe decided to switch things up when Portale announced earlier this year that he would be opening his own Italian restaurant in Chelsea. The search for a chef led them to Blamey, who last helmed the kitchen at Chumley’s in the West Village where she earned two stars in the Times.
Blamey plans to add more multicultural flavors to the formerly American menu, such as Indian sauces and chiles. Though she’s been there for a few weeks, her new menu will debut in September after a brief closure for a slight redesign in August.
It’s a big change for the restaurant that for 34 years Portale has kept about upscale seasonal American fare. In that time, he’s racked up awards for both himself and the restaurant, including a Michelin star since 2006, three James Beard Awards, and five three-star reviews in the Times between 1985 and 2011.
Now, Portale will focus on his the fall opening for his new Italian restaurant in Chelsea, to be called Portale. Portale will not be a fine-dining restaurant, the chef told Food & Wine. Rather, he wants to open a “hip and fun” place for the neighborhood, with housemade pasta and seasonal Italian classics.
The chef lived in Italy and has been cooking French-influenced American food for the last few decades, which will all make its way into the menu here. There will be a particular focus in the 130-seat space on the “light and casually healthy” food of the Italian riviera, supplied by his deep relationships at the Union Square farmers market nearby.
Portale says he’s wanted to open his own restaurant “for many, many years.” This “informal type of experience” is a departure from his time at Gotham Bar & Grill, where he remains a partner.
University Place will soon have not one but two taco spots within two blocks of each other. What was Tortaria at the corner of 12th St. will now become the second branch of Santo Taco. The update:
Since opening in the spring, Santo Taco’s Soho stall has gotten people to line up around the block for its steak trompos and rough-edged masa tortillas. Now it’s expanding: A new location will triple the number of seats while adding margaritas to the menu.