Yesterday afternoon, chef and owner Peter Hoffman announced that his 21-year-old Soho restaurant Savoy will serve its last meal on June 18th. He plans to keep and reopen the space this fall with a new name and concept.
Two-starred Savoy was a very early adopter of the "shop local"/ "farm-to-table" ethos that's popular in seemingly every restaurant these days, and is considered hugely influential in the downtown dining scene. In 2007, Hoffman helped open Back Forty, a more casual, inexpensive sibling restaurant with a similar focus on Greenmarket-sourced ingredients. Hoffman said he plans to replace Savoy with a restaurant that will echo Back Forty's informal vibe: "I could make the place fancier, smaller, quieter and much more expensive. Or I could go with higher volume off a lower ticket price, and provide good food in an unpretentious atmosphere." The restaurant's annual seder dinners were totally booked this year, and we can only imagine that from now until June 18th, the place will be packed.
