On the morning of Tuesday, September 15, a line formed outside 834 Seventh Avenue. One customer told amNewYork he had been waiting for hours before the doors opened. The sign above the door said Carnegie Deli. The room behind it used to be Stage Deli, Carnegie's longtime rival in what Time Out calls the city's pastrami wars. Almost ten years after Carnegie left its original home at 854 Seventh Avenue, its name now hangs in the room its competitor once held.
That reopening sums up Midtown's dining year. Most of the restaurant news between 42nd and 57th Streets since June has come from rooms that already had a history. La Grenouille's dining room has a new operator. The Lord & Taylor building now holds a food hall. The Lambs Club's banquettes are waiting for a London institution. A court is deciding who gets the glass pavilion behind the library. The names change, and the rooms stay.
The Pastrami Wars End in the Stage Deli's Room
The new Carnegie Deli is a 2,500-square-foot room with 110 seats at tightly packed tables, waiter service and a deli counter you can see from the tables. Garrett Singer Architecture + Design brought back the wood paneling, the front dessert case, the giant pickle and the Wall of Fame. Original photos from the old restaurant are back up, including Mel Brooks, Robin Williams, Taylor Swift and a young Venus Williams holding her namesake sandwich.
According to Time Out's September preview, the pastrami on rye costs $29 and the corned beef $28. The Broadway Danny Rose, which combines both meats, is $37. The new Carnegie Deli Colossus is $40 and adds turkey, Swiss, coleslaw and Russian dressing. Plain cheesecake is $15 a slice, and the strawberry and black-and-white versions are $16. Babka French toast and fried deli pickle chips are new to the menu. At breakfast you can get a pastrami, egg and cheese sandwich or The Full Schmear, Nova and cream cheese on a bagel. The deli is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and takes walk-ins only.
Sarri Harper, the third-generation owner and CEO, grew up visiting her grandfather at the deli. She told amNewYork she sees the return as filling the Theater District's need for a deli. She described what she was aiming for to Time Out:
"We want the people who grew up with Carnegie Deli to walk in and immediately recognize it, while giving a whole new generation the chance to make those same memories of their own."
When NPR visited on September 19, it found tourists and New Yorkers on lunch breaks in the same line, and the reporter said it moved quickly. The New York Post's review that week praised the service and the soup and measured the $29 pastrami sandwich at four inches tall.
Two Blocks North, a Corner Goes Quiet
On the same stretch of Seventh Avenue, the summer went the other way. Redeye Grill, the two-story American brasserie facing Carnegie Hall since 1995, served its last meal on Sunday, July 12. It was known for seafood towers, pre-theater dinners, the Dancing Shrimp and an 88-foot mural by Red Grooms. The New York Post reported that the lease had ended and the two sides couldn't agree on a renewal. Fireman Hospitality Group still runs 11 restaurants, including Cafe Fiorello near Lincoln Center.
The coverage of the closing didn't name a successor for 890 Seventh Avenue. So within one summer, the blocks between 54th and 56th Streets got one famous name back and lost another. What happens next at 890 depends on who takes over a two-story room across from Carnegie Hall.
La Grenouille's Room and Lord & Taylor's Floors
On the East Side, the same pattern is playing out in a higher price bracket. iDen's Beijing Duck House reopened after a revamp on Tuesday, September 1, in the former La Grenouille space at 3 East 52nd Street, between Fifth and Madison. Its new chef, Matt Chen, previously ran the kitchen at Le Palais in Taipei, which Eater calls apparently the first restaurant in Taiwan to earn three Michelin stars. The menu now includes a $200 tasting menu, and the Beijing duck starts at $128. This is iDen's second opening in the room. The restaurant first came to New York last year, after its Vancouver sibling, and it has now rebuilt its menu without moving.
A few blocks south, the former Lord & Taylor at 424 Fifth Avenue has been Shaver Hall since Friday, June 26. It's a food hall from Dallas-based FB Society. Newsday counted 11 counters after the opening, including Tompkins' Square Bagels, Taqueria Al Pastor, Butter Chicken Social, Tonchinette, Norihana and F&F Pizzeria. Pick & Cheese and Tallow Steakhouse offer full service. A third sit-down concept, Mako, is still listed as coming soon on the hall's site. When Newsday visited in mid-July, the hall was packed at lunch. The line for bagels was long, and staff had to redirect the queue at the taqueria. The hall's own site lists two different sets of hours, so check before you plan a late visit.
The Rooms Still Between Tenants
Several well-known Midtown addresses are now waiting on their next operator, and the timelines vary a lot:
- 132 West 44th Street. The Lambs Club closed on Saturday, July 25. Geoffrey Zakarian opened it at the Chatwal in 2010, and the building has belonged to the Lambs, America's oldest professional theatrical club, since the early 1900s. Minor Hotels lists The Wolseley Hotel New York as opening in early 2027, with 76 rooms and suites, The Wolseley New York restaurant, a cellar-level speakeasy and a wellness center. The operator lists the address as 130 West 44th.
- 890 Seventh Avenue. Redeye Grill's former room. The closing coverage didn't name a successor.
- 135 West 50th Street. Urban Hawker, the Singaporean food hall that Anthony Bourdain helped conceive and K.F. Seetoh opened in 2022, closed on Friday, July 17, after the building was sold for redevelopment. Its bakery spinoff, Lady Wong, still has a standalone shop in the East Village.
- 1 East 55th Street. In July, Time Out reported that Polo Bar was in advanced talks to move to 625 Madison Avenue, a planned office tower. That's a reported negotiation. Nothing has been confirmed.
Bryant Park Grill, Still Seating
The most closely watched room of all has stayed put. Bryant Park Corp. declined to renew Bryant Park Grill's lease after picking Jean-Georges Restaurants out of 11 candidates in 2024. The Grill's owner went to court. Earlier forecasts had the Grill leaving in October. On Tuesday, September 22, an appellate court stayed any eviction while Ark Restaurants appeals. That keeps the 1,000-seat restaurant open for at least several more months, and the next hearing is scheduled for February. Eater, citing the New York Post, reported that the proposed Jean-Georges deal fell apart this summer. The park is still in talks with Vongerichten.
The Genuinely New Rooms, and Who Is Behind Them
Even the few rooms opening for the first time come from operators with a track record. One Bryant Park, KwangHo Lee's Japanese dining complex at 135 West 42nd Street, is expected in mid-October, according to Crain's reporting from September 22. It will have three parts: a 45-seat restaurant with a 15-seat bar, the 14-seat Kumiko Room sushi counter and the 10-seat Kappo Sono kaiseki counter. On the far West Side, The Market Hall at Five Manhattan West is still listed as opening "this fall," with Shifka, BKLYN Larder, Springbone, Alfalfa, Matter, Matchaful, Super Burrito and Sushi Counter among its first vendors.
Dram Central opened on August 7 at 14 East 44th Street, from the team behind Tribeca's Brandy Library. The Pocket, a 170-seat jazz club below the Muse at 130 West 46th Street, opened in June. Co-founders Grant Gardner and Martin Porter run it, and chef Anthony Duranti, formerly of Del Posto and Telepan, runs the kitchen. In Koreatown, Baekjeong Black opened on September 23 at 49 West 32nd Street. It puts Baekjeong's Korean barbecue and Yangban, a Korean-influenced cocktail bar, on two floors.
The Next Five Weeks
- Wednesdays through October 28: The GrowNYC Greenmarket at Rockefeller Center runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in its new spot on the North Plaza.
- Mid-October: One Bryant Park's expected opening at 135 West 42nd.
- October 28: The Winter Village rink at Bryant Park opens, with free admission and paid skate rentals, and runs daily through February 28, 2027. The Holiday Shops open the same day and stay through January 3, 2027. The 2026 vendor list hasn't been published yet.
The rink opens next to a restaurant whose lease is still in court. Two blocks north of Carnegie Deli, the closing coverage for 890 Seventh Avenue left its next tenant unnamed.
A Midtown room with a well-known history is often worth more than the lease that comes with it, and who takes it next can change the feel of a whole block. Bianca D'Alessio - Nestseekers Masters Division follows these handoffs address by address across Manhattan. If you're weighing a residence near one of these corners, request a private consultation.
