Grand Central cuenta con un nuevo y enorme restaurante con capacidad para 400 personas. ¿Logrará atraer a los consumidores?
Cuando Great Northern Food Hall abrió sus puertas en Grand Central con una temática nórdica diseñada por Claus Meyer, cofundador de Noma, demostró el potencial y la ambición que ofrecía una importante zona de transporte.
When Great Northern Food Hall opened at Grand Central in 2016 with a Nordic theme from Noma co-founder Claus Meyer it showed promise and ambition for what dining options at a major transit hub could be. Then the pandemic hit, it shuttered, and the nearly 16,000-square-foot space at Vanderbilt Hall was taken over by City Winery, more known as an event space than a culinary destination. City Winery lasted two years. Now, the New York Post reports, as of this month, a new tenant has taken over the massive Grand Central space.
Grand Brasserie opened over the long weekend: The new operator, Rick Blatstein, reportedly founded a new hospitality group called Vizz Group, after selling his previous company devoted to airport restaurants. That’s an interesting credential as airport restaurants in general have been known for price gouging and convenience over the food itself (though there has been some movement in certain airports to improve things).
The New York Times reports that Grand Brasserie is a 400-seat restaurant with bars that will be open daily until 2 a.m. (The entrance is at 89 East 42nd Street.) Rockwell Group, behind the design of openings like Coqodaq and the upcoming Seahorse in the W Hotel, intends for the restaurant to feel like a Parisian subway. It appears to be a safe play for Grand Central, which might appeal to tourists and commuters with a more milquetoast theme than Great Northern Food Hall. “The menu will be a popular French format” Blatstein told the Post.
It is unclear if Grand Brasserie has the same deal with the MTA as City Winery was reported to have, which was “$500,000 for the first year along with 8 percent of gross sales” Commercial Observer reported.
Beyond this opening, there’s movement across the city regarding retail in transit hubs. Earlier this year, Eater reported on the west side of Midtown, a subterranean bar, coffee shop, and an actually cool pizzeria called See No Evil have been animating an otherwise commercially barren 1 train station. In other stations, operators have experimented with opening speakeasies, and there has been an attempt at opening a fancy tasting menu counter in another Manhattan station as well.
Across town from Grand Central, over at Penn Station’s flashy Moynihan Hall, the food options have leveled up, although Eater NY’s former critic questioned whether everyday commuters actually benefit from the upscale overhaul. And as recently as March, the MTA admitted to Eater that its organization has struggled to fill vacancies following COVID.
Over the years, the Grand Central subterranean food hall has also changed. A food stand called Dirty Taco, for example, experimented with adding an 11-course taco omakase in the basement. Meanwhile, on the main level of Grand Central’s terminal, it was reported back in 2021 that a long-vacant space, previously Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse, would be replaced by another chophouse, now overseen by the Cipriani group. More recently, in 2022, Daniel Boulud and a Masa alum opened Jōji, a “secret” omakase in an alcove of Grand Central, a year after his 2021 revival of Le Pavillon. Grand Central Oyster Bar never returned to weekend service following the pandemic, but the restaurant remains as popular as ever as a weekday stop among locals and tourists.
