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Danny Meyer's Union Square Cafe Reopens in New Location on 19th Street

By Noah Hurowitz | December 11, 2016 12:18pm | Updated on December 13, 2016 4:42pm
 The new Union Square Cafe opened on Thursday, a year after the original restaurant shut its doors.
The new Union Square Cafe opened on Thursday, a year after the original restaurant shut its doors.
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Union Square Cafe

UNION SQUARE — Danny Meyer’s Union Square Cafe reopened on Thursday, a year after his Union Square Hospitality Group closed the doors on the original restaurant.

The new Union Square Cafe, located at 19th Street and Park Avenue South in Union Square, features a menu that includes year-round dishes as well as seasonal fare that will change based on available ingredients, according to a spokeswoman.

The original Union Square Cafe, which was located at 21 E. 16th St. since 1985, closed last December after a rent hike made the space financially untenable, Meyer told reporters at the time.

Meyer said he was thrilled to be able to begin serving the neighborhood again after a year away.

“We’ve so missed being able to welcome guests and longtime friends to Union Square Cafe over this past year, and I can’t overstate how soul-satisfying it will be to open our doors and bring Union Square Cafe back into our lives,” Meyer said in a statement.

Like Meyer’s other restaurants, which include Gramercy Tavern and and North End Grill in Battery Park City, the new Union Square Cafe will run on Meyer’s “Hospitality Included” system, which does away with tipping in favor of a “more equitable” compensation for workers in the front and back of the house, according to a spokeswoman.

The two-story restaurant includes a main dining room with 95 seats and a 15-seat bar on the first floor with double-height windows to allow for natural lighting and a view of the neighborhood, and the second floor includes a lounge and balcony seating, along with two private dining rooms for up to 40 people, according to a spokeswoman.

Meyer also plans for a small coffee and sandwich shop called Daily Provisions that will be tucked into an alcove next to the restaurant on East 19th Street, which is set to open in January.

Appetizers range in price from $13 for a crispy polenta dish to $21 for steak tartare, along with oysters from Massachusetts, Washington, New Brunswick, and British Columbia for $4 a pop.

Pasta entrees include ricotta gnocchi for $17 with tomato-basil passatina and pecorino romano, tortellini with chicken broth, Swiss chard, and soffritto for $19, and pappardelle with duck confit, chanterelle sugo, Brussels sprouts, and honey nut squash.

Other main courses include the Union Square Burger, a $25-dollar hamburger laden with cheddar and bacon on a brioche bun; butter-roasted monkfish with wild mushrooms, turnips, and Napa cabbage for $39; and for the big-spending meat lover, a New York strip steak with mashed potatoes and radish salad for $48.