The owners of the hot and trendy restaurants Torrisi Italian Specialties and Parm are among the restaurateurs sniffing around the dessicated corpse of Tavern on the Green, which the Parks Department showed off to potential operators today. "We’re taking it all in," Torrisi co-owner Zalaznick told City Room during the tour this morning. "The question is how casual they’ll let the restaurant be. It used to be a pretty formal place." During the tour and Q&A that followed, the Parks Department let it be known that they do indeed want the new iteration of Tavern to be casual and accessible. The city is spending $10 million to renovate and shrink it, and the Wall Street Journal reports that Assistant Parks Commissioner Betsy Smith made it clear that the new Tavern should be "a moderately priced restaurant" that's not as "fanciful and glitzy as before."
The Times reports that about 100 people showed up to look the property over today, including Dave Arnold of the French Culinary Institute and Booker & Dax bar at Momofuku Ssam Bar; Drew Nieporent, owner of Nobu; Bill Telepan; Penny and Peter Glazier and their son Mathew (they operate Michael Jordan's Steakhouse in Grand Central); and Bryan McGuire, general manager of the “21” Club. The deadline for proposals is the end of March, and the Parks Department plans to announce the new operator by the end of April, with a projected reopening next year.
Still up in the air: whether the new boss will be able to hammer out a deal with the restaurant union, which proved to be an insurmountable sticking point for Dean Poll, the restaurateur who had previously won the right to lease Tavern on the Green. Potential operators will also have to contend with a 1 a.m. closing time and a 10 p.m. outdoor music curfew, which the Parks Department is implementing to pacify the Upper West Side neighbors. And forget about revenue from catering—the Parks Department isn't interested in that either.
