The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be opening its newly renovated $30 million cafeteria on June 17. The Times notes that it's like the Conde Nast cafeteria in its price tag, use of metal and glass (laminated, thought), and the chef who formerly headed up the 4TS Conde Nast cafeteria, but the main difference is that the Met cafeteria is open to the public, not underfed fashionistas, although Gothamist would like to see a crossover episode of "Expensive New York Cafeterias" where tourists from Iowa rub shoulders with Vogue editors. The food at the Met's cafeteria will be provided by Restaurant Associates, which runs New York restaurants Brasserie, Brasserie 8 1/2, the Seat Grill, and eateries at other museums, like the American Museum of Natural History, the Cooper-Hewitt, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Times article also outlines the history of the cafeteria.
Gawker's been inside the Conde Nast cafeteria.
Excellent Metroplitan Museum reading: Making the Mummies Dance, a memor by former Met Director Thomas E. Hoving, and Gothamist's personal favorite, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a children's book about two suburban kids who run away and live at the Met.
