New York Venue Directory
Restaurants patio with a 32-seat tequila bar. Three private rooms are available with seating for eight, 10, and 20. The back half of the restaurant can also be sectioned off for private dining for 50. (688 Columbus Ave., 212.961.9600) GABRIEL’S
Popular among theatergoers and Upper West Siders, Gabriel’s serves flavorful Tuscan food in a casual dining room and offers a 36-seat private room with sunny yellow walls. Food is cooked over a wood grill, and all pastas are homemade. Owner Gabriel Aiello is often around to meet and greet diners. (11 West 60th St., 212.956.4600) GALLAGHER’S STEAK HOUSE
GOTHAM BAR AND GRILL
HARBOUR LIGHTS RESTAURANT5
This restaurant is a standby for business luncheons and a reliable restaurant for entertaining clients. The space is clean and modern, with a high-ceilinged dining room and white-swathed light fixtures. The restaurant seats 140 or holds 200 for receptions. In 2006, the James Beard Foundation named Gotham chef-owner Alfred Portale the most outstanding chef in the nation. (12 East 12th St., 212.620.4020)
This American seafood restaurant in the South Street Seaport offers views of the harbor and the Brooklyn Bridge through its floor-to-ceiling windows and from its narrow 150-seat outdoor dining area. Harbour Lights offers the Harbour Room for private events and the captain’s table for large groups in the dining room. The entire space, including the outdoor seating, seats 300. (South Street Seaport, Pier 17, 3rd Floor, 212.227.2800)
GRACE
HARD ROCK CAFE5
This TriBeCa bar and restaurant has a 40-foot mahogany bar and a separate, skylit dining room available for lunch and dinner until 4 a.m. While spots at the bar can be reserved, the dining room seats as many as 60 for private events. The restaurant serves New American cuisine tapas-style. (114 Franklin St., 212.343.4200)
The Hard Rock Cafe is famous for its original memorabilia displayed with museumlike care. Once on 57th Street, this restaurant moved to Times Square in 2005. The 708-seat venue has the Hard Rock Live concert space, an 1,800-square-foot store, and an outdoor section above the building’s marquee. The newest location of the chain of Hard Rock eateries is the outpost inside Yankee Stadium. Open year-round—even when the stadium is closed for off-season—the property seats 165 and has 12 flat-screen TVs for game-day viewings. (Times Square: 1501 Broadway, 212.343.3355; Yankee Stadium: 1 East 161st St., Gate 6, Bronx, 646.977.8888)
Opened in 1927, Gallagher’s prominent glass-enclosed meat locker sits at the front of the restaurant in full view of passersby. As a result of its location (near the Neil Simon and Virginia theaters), this Midtown steak house is a popular restaurant for stage actors and theatergoers. The venue offers its 110-seat trophy room for private events. (228 West 52nd St., 212.957.2884)
GRAFFITI
NEW GANSEVOORT 69
GRAMERCY TAVERN
Florent Morellet’s popular 24-hour diner closed in 2008, and in September 2009 David Graziano and Corey Lane reopened the Meatpacking district space as a bistro serving comfort food. (69 Gansevoort St., 212.691.0069)
This restaurant with a rustic appearance serves American cuisine. For casual drinks and small plates, the front room is always bustling. For dinner, the 140-seat dining room seats 140, and a private room for 22 has dark wooden vaulted ceilings and antiques. (42 East 20th St., 212.477.0777)
A casual and graceful environment has been the allure of the Harrison since its doors opened in 2001. The intimate venue’s 85-seat main dining room is decorated with wood, steel, leather, and antiques. The restaurant has a 40-seat outdoor area and a lower-level, 22-seat private dining space featuring a farmhouse table and walls lined with wooden wine racks. (355 Greenwich St., 212.274.9319)
GRAND CENTRAL OYSTER BAR
HARRY CIPRIANI
In the cavernous lower level of Grand Central Terminal, the Oyster Bar first opened in 1913; after a fire in 1997, it was restored to its original glory with a raw bar and arched white-tiled ceilings. The classic New York eatery offers a 65-seat semiprivate dining room named the Saloon Room for events, a main dining room that seats 250, and four counters and an oyster bar for 110. (Grand Central Terminal, Lower Level, 212.490.6650)
In the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on the Upper East Side, the first New York Cipriani restaurant has golden walls lit with glowing sconces that illuminate the classic dining room. Designed to imitate the original Cipriani restaurant, Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy, Harry Cipriani opened in 1985 and serves classic Italian dishes. A quiet section in the back seats as many as 50, while the entire restaurant seats 130. (781 Fifth Ave., 212.753.5566)
GREENWICH GRILL & SUSHI AZABU
HARRY’S CAFE & HARRY’S STEAK
Greenwich Grill features “Tokyo-Italian” cuisine—a strong Italian base with a subtle infusion of Japanese tastes, ingredients, and cooking techniques. Downstairs is Sushi Azabu, which serves traditional Edomae-style sushi alongside small Japanese dishes. Opened in 2008, both restaurants are available for private events of up to 80 people. Individually, the dining space holds 40, a lounge holds 20, and the sushi bar holds 23. (428 Greenwich St., New York, NY 10013, 212.274.0428)
This casual 150-seat café features oval booths, leather banquettes, a 47-foot-long black walnut bar, and a copper ceiling. Adjacent to the café is Harry’s Steak, a 70-seat steak house with pine paneling, leather banquettes, murals of monks making wine, and exposed stone walls dating from the 18th century. Both venues feature an extensive wine list. (1 Hanover Sq., 212.785.9200)
GARAGE RESTAURANT & CAFÉ5
This Greenwich Village restaurant serving casual American cuisine took its name from the building’s original business—an automobile garage. Garage has live jazz nightly, inlaid wood floors, a two-story stone fireplace, a semiprivate balcony with seating for 40, and outdoor seating for 80. (99 Seventh Ave. South, 212.645.0600) GAUCHO STEAK QUICK GRILL
Sister restaurant to Gaucho Steak in Montclair, New Jersey, this Argentinean steak house opened in June 2007. The Hell’s Kitchen restaurant features burnished wood accents, stucco walls, and metal fixtures; the venue seats 28 guests. Overseeing the menu is Alex Garcia, the former Calle Ocho chef who also opened Novo in 2006. (752 10th Ave., 212.957.1727) GEISHA
David Rockwell designed the geisha-inspired dining room of this Japanese fusion restaurant; Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert consulted on the menu. There are four rooms available: The sushi room on the ground floor seats 45, the second-floor main dining room seats as many as 65, the back room on the second floor seats 25 for private dining, and a room on the third floor seats 30 or holds 45 for receptions and can be used for private events. (33 East 61st St., 212.813.1112) GEMMA
Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson opened Gemma, the in-house Italian restaurant of their new hotel on the Bowery. Designed by Taavo Somer, the space takes on a rustic, farmhouse look with wooden beams, chandeliers, and hanging copper pots. Chris D’Amico is responsible for the menu, which includes wood-fired-oven pizza. (335 Bowery, 212.505.9100) GIANDO ON THE WATER5
On Brooklyn’s waterfront just south of the Williamsburg Bridge, Giando on the Water serves seafood and Italian cuisine and offers views of Manhattan and the East River. Its newly renovated banquet space can seat 300 upstairs when combined with the patio and terrace, while the downstairs seats 100. (412 Kent Ave., Brooklyn, 718.387.7000) GIARDINO D’ORO
This Italian-inspired steak house in the financial district dry-ages its prime steak on site, slices and serves its porterhouse tableside, creates its own homemade pastas, and has hundreds of bottles of wine lining the walls. The downstairs dining area seats 120, and the upstairs seats 50. The lower level features the 25-seat wine cellar, and two additional private rooms that seat eight and 16. (5 Gold St., 212.514.6400) GIOVANNI RISTORANTE
Owned by Giovanni Francescotti and serving Northern Italian fare from chef Giovanni Pinato, this restaurant has a 185-seat main dining room that features handmade Venetian mirrors and a marble and mahogany bar. Two private dining rooms are available: the 35-seat club room and the 70-seat card room, decorated with artwork of old Italian playing cards. (47 West 55th St., 212.262.2828) GONZALEZ Y GONZALEZ
This NoHo restaurant serves south-of-the-border cuisine and features folksy Mexican decor. The entire space can seat 200 or hold 300 for receptions. A smaller private room can hold 90. (625 Broadway, 212.473.8787) GORDON RAMSAY AT THE LONDON
Brit superstar chef Gordon Ramsay made the leap to the States with a restaurant in the London NYC hotel. Gordon Ramsay at the London serves modern French cuisine and is adorned with decorative wood panels. The dining room seats 45, the informal Maze seats 70, and the London Bar seats 45. Within the kitchen is a private chef’s table for eight, and there are three private rooms, which hold 20, 60, and 80. (151 West 54th St., 212.468.8888)
178 bizbash.com may/june 2010
Pastry chef Jehangir Mehta branched out on his own, opening his first food and wine bar in 2007. The 18-seat bistro is accented with items from Mehta’s personal collection of artwork and antiques; the menu offers savory and sweet dishes, as well as wine. (224 East 10th St., 212.677.0695)
THE GRILL ROOM
On the mezzanine in the Winter Garden Atrium of the World Financial Center, the Grill Room offers New American cuisine and views of New York Harbor. There are three private rooms: One seats 50, another seats 100, and the third is a lounge that holds 30 for receptions. (225 Liberty St., 212.945.9400) GROTTA AZZURRA
Traditional Italian dishes are served in this Little Italy establishment named for Capri’s underground cavern, the Blue Grotto. The restaurant originally opened in 1908 and attracted the likes of Frank Sinatra, but was renovated in the 1990s and reopened in 2003. The wine cellar has a private entrance on Broome Street and seats 65 or holds 100 for receptions. The first floor has à la carte seating with a bar and lounge for 120. (177 Mulberry St., 212.925.8775) NEW GUS & GABRIEL
In July 2009, chef Michael Psilakis replaced the Upper West Side space that previously housed Kefi with Gus & Gabriel, a casual gastropub serving affordable American fare. Named for Psilakis’ father and son, this uptown eatery is furnished with dark wood accents, burgundy walls, antique objects, and a coat of armor. Up front, the bar seats four, and in the rear is a 65-seat dining room. (222 West 79th St., 212.362.7470) GUSTO RISTORANTE E BAR AMERICANO
Sasha Muniak’s West Village restaurant and bar was inspired by 1950s and ’60s Italian cinema (La Dolce Vita, Rocco and His Brothers, The Gold of Naples). The decor is a mix of simple white tiles and dark wood tables with plush black velvet banquettes, Missoni striped bar stools, and a 1950s Viennese chandelier. The 400-square-foot wine cellar can be used for special events. (60 Greenwich Ave., 212.924.8000) HAKUBAI
This is the New York branch of a 200-year-old restaurant in Kyoto. Specializing in kaiseki ryori—a meal consisting of seasonal small plates—Hakubai is the in-house restaurant of the Kitano Hotel and is notorious for its highpriced menu. The 48-seat main dining room is brightly lit, and three private tatami rooms are available for events. (66 Park Ave., 212.885.7111) HANGAWI
Little Korea’s HanGawi serves Korean vegetarian cuisine in a luxurious, business-appropriate setting for an upscale crowd. The no-shoes policy and recessed tables encourage interaction among groups in the serene and quiet space. The restaurant comfortably seats 60, but due to the recessed seating, it cannot be used for cocktail receptions. (12 East 32nd St., 212.213.0077)
THE HARRISON5
HARU
This modern Japanese restaurant group has seven eateries throughout Manhattan. The 175-seat Park Avenue restaurant has rice-paper window screens, floors made of photographs of grass, tanks of robotic fish suspended over the sushi bar, and an outdoor area that holds 80. The design at the newest location in the financial district was inspired by Japanese Shinto temples, and has two private dining rooms for events. (280 Park Ave., 212.490.9680; 205 West 43rd St., 212.398.9810; 433 Amsterdam Ave., 212.579.5655; 1329 Third Ave., 212.452.2230; 220 Park Ave. South, 646.428.0989; 1327 Third Ave., 212.452.1028; 1 Wall St. Court, 212.785.6850) HAVANA CENTRAL
The Times Square outpost of the Union Square restaurant features decor inspired by 1950s Cuba. Serving homestyle Cuban fare, the venue has a 110-seat dining room, a 70-seat lounge, the 30-seat Hemingway Room, and a 26-seat veranda café. The entire space holds 400 for receptions; the original location seats 70. A third location, in Morningside Heights, seats 350 or holds 500 for receptions. (151 West 46th St., 212.398.7440; 22 East 17th St., 212.414.4999; 2911 Broadway, 212.662.8830) HAWAIIAN TROPIC ZONE
This 16,000-square-foot trilevel restaurant, lounge, and club holds a total of 700 throughout its three floors. The venue features a menu by David Burke, “table concierges” (servers assigned to a sole table) dressed in sarongs and bikini tops, and cabaret entertainment. Private rooms are available on the lower level. (729 Seventh Ave., 212.626.7312) HEARTBEAT
Heartbeat, in the W New York, offers a health-conscious breakfast menu, while the lunch and dinner menus feature global-Latin influences and flavors. David Rockwell’s design includes a subtle blend of pastels and natural wood accented by columns covered with colorful glass fragments. The restaurant has no private dining room, but the entire space seats 125 or holds 200 for receptions. (149 East 49th St., 212.407.2900) NEW HIGHLANDS
This Scottish-influenced gastropub opened in October 2009 in the space that once housed Pichet Ong’s P*ong. Outfitted in all things Scottish—tartan fabrics, rustic furniture, and a fireplace—Highlands serves ales, scotches, and Scottish cocktails as well as a menu of traditional Scottish fare. The dining room seats 32. (150-152 West 10th St., 212.229.9270) HILL COUNTRY
This Texan barbecue restaurant has two floors of space, a no-frills approach to dining, and a stage for musical entertainment. Here, dry-rubbed meats and hearty sides are ordered at the counter and served on butcher paper.