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Chanterelle, the 30-year-old restaurant in TriBeCa that changed the way NYC restaurants did business by making good food and service less stuffy, will close for good, the NY Times reports. The restaurant closed in July for extensive renovations and was due to reopen this month in advance of its November 14 anniversary; Owners David and Karen Waltuck explained their decision to the Times in a letter: "Through good and bad times it is a thrilling, passionate and rewarding journey. We are proud to be a part of this creative industry in this unparalled city of ours and look forward to what we will bring to you in the future..."
Last year, David Waltuck explained that it was the food-themed forays into Hell's Kitchen when he was a kid that propelled him toward a career in the restaurant industry. "I was really obsessed as a kid with food," he told us, "I still am." In the era of celebrity chefs and reality television foodie glitz, the Waltucks essentially remained out of the spotlight and in favor of being at their restaurant. Earlier this year, Chanterelle the cookbook— the couple's retrospective, 30 years in the making— won an IACP Award.
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So glad to see that stimulus is working so well.
AS opposed to actually getting us into the hole for trillions, which is what the republican't administration did... right?
It's my impression that businesses which close for renovations often fail to reopen.
I agree! I mean, there are so many places with "Closed for renovations" signs on their doors/windows for months...
Happens in the nightclub business all the time.
That was supposed to be "less stuffy"? wow.
Great restaurant. It will be missed.
That's ironic, I've tried many restaurants in Tribeca and avoided Chanterelle because it looked stuffy.
Too bad that some of you missed out on an incredible restaurant because of perceived "stuffiness". Chanterelle was amazing, very down to earth, and helmed by one of the nicest and most approachable master sommeliers in the city.
Chanterelle was a great restaurant... ans NO, it most certainly was not stuffy. The food was terrific, the room was beautiful, the service was flawless, and Roger Dagorn, one of the first Americans to become a Master Sommelier, remains one of the great ones.
I did like the food and wine and the general dining experience at Chanterelle, but I'm just surprised to see any restaurant whose dress code was "Jacket preferred" being described as less stuffy. Less stuffy than what?
I know that Open Table says “jacket preferred” in the dress code section category line of its listing, but Chanterelle never had a dress code. As David Waltuck writes in the book,
Perhaps it’s not so notable these days, but it sure was in 1978. Chanterelle was by leaps and bounds more accessible than the prevailing French restaurants (if not most fine dining restaurants) in New York City. And what the Waltucks started there caused a lot of restaurateurs and chefs to stop and rethink the way they did business. The reigning French restaurants of the day— La Caravelle, Le Cirque, and Le Cygne— were thriving on 55th, 68th, and 54th street, respectively, with caviar, toast points, Champagne, and fine dining parlor tricks. Pheasant under glass kind of stuff.Pretty much all French restaurants were expensive as hell and were full of bells, whistles, and flourishes. These places all but demanded to be treated as temples to haute cuisine. In comparison to Chanterelle, which had a more straightforward, austere dining room, the big French restaurants were stuffy clubhouses for politicians and wealthy businessmen with out-of-town clients in tow. The food was often secondary to the scene. By most accounts, Chanterelle upended that tradition in NYC.
Good riddance.
To those who consider it too stuffy.
For Godsakes, make an effort and have a sense of occasion for once, you Philistines. I dread to see New York fall into the LA vortex of eternal casual. It's a shame they had to even suggest a jacket because some people simply don't get it. It reminds me of a meal I once had Le Bec Fin in Philly. The meal, service and atmosphere were par excellent except for one exception, the tourist with the walking shorts, polo shirt and a fanny pak. I don't begrudge his sense of utilitarianism but he took the ambience down a notch much in the way of someone who refuses to dress up for a Holloween party or come to a wedding in jeans. Not only do they show no self respect but an attitude of selfishness. The food, the service and the decor in Chanterelle was not your average bistro, so why dress like your at one.