journey dining nyc

JOURNEY Cafe Frites

STELLA'S LOUNGE

EXPERIENCE 360

JOURNEY VOYAGER

Cafe Frites

Embark on a culinary odyssey at Cafe Frites, an avant-garde concept nestled within the iconic restaurant Journey, located in the vibrant Flatiron district. Immerse yourself in a symphony of senses with our offering of a choice of succulent steak, tender chicken, or delectable fish, all meticulously curated by the culinary genius, celebrity chef Judy Anderson.

Monday - Saturday

coming soon

Tuesday - Sunday

5:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Saturday & Sunday

SEATING CAPACITY

Seating 75 Guests

Standing 85 Guests

RESERVATIONS

EVENT INQUIRY

JOURNEY, a unique dining entertainment enterprise, introduces theatrical gastronomy to New York City, with an exciting blend of immersive video installations, fine dining, fashion tech and theatre. Created through the collaboration of a top team culled from the worlds of Broadway, fashion, multi-media and the culinary arts, JOURNEY is a wholly original experience.

Located at 27 West 24th Street, New York, NY  10010, JOURNEY incorporates four unique experiences under one roof:  Journey 360 , where the 360 degree projections transport you from the communal table to five exotic locations for each of the courses of the pre fix meal; Journey Odyssey and Journey Voyager , where the tabletops come to life with stunning images of global travel; Journey Lounge , where entertaining mystery and curiosities await as you enjoy a mix of live and filmed entertainment; and Journey A La Carte, where augmented reality brings the dinner plates to life.

A unique lounge with a delicious Small Bites menu featuring our exclusive cocktail videos starring Broadway performers, inventive craft cocktails, and ever-changing content on the video “paintings” in a cozy setting designed by Tony Award winner David Gallo.

Tuesday - Saturday

Sat & Sun

BAR & LOUNGE

Tue - Thu 4pm - 12am

Fri & Sat 4pm - 1:30am; Sun 4pm - 10pm

360 EXPERIENCE

The Journey Experience is the perfect place to HOST YOUR SPECIAL EVENT up to 300 guests, either if is a RECEPTIONS, WEDDINGS, or a CORPORATE EVENTS,  we'll customized your needs to make an unforgettable experience.

EVENTS MENUS

THE MAIN DINING ROOM

Seated Capacity 50 -75 Guests | BOOK

Seated Capacity 100 - 120 Guests | BOOK

THE VOYAGER EXPERIENCE

THE 360 EXPERIENCE

Seated Capacity 20 - 25 Guests | BOOK

Seated Capacity 30-40 Guests

THE VOYAGER

A ticketed event where guests will be able to participate in this multisensory culinary journey in smaller groups – at tables accommodating 2 to 4 people. In Journey Voyager, a three course pre fixe meal offers tantalizing images of world travel as you enjoy your meal.

RESERVATIONS SOON

EVENT INQUIRY COMING SOON

Guests are seated at a communal table surrounded by kinetic images as travel to dramatic settings for each course, from a fantastic waterfall in the Rain Forest to the side of a volcano to an underwater shipwreck. The magnificent five-course prix fixe meal will end with a futuristic, otherworldly dessert set in an out of this world location. Every setting has been designed to complement the cuisine while bringing the astonishing world to your table.

DINNER SHOW - MON CLOSED

Sunday - Thursday @ 6:30 pm

Fri & Sat @ 6:30pm & @ 8:30 pm

5 COURSE PRIX FIXE

Sun - Thu $150

Fri & Sat  $175

DURATION TIME

ADA COMPLIANCE STATEMENT

DESIGNED BY NYC RESTAURANT

Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved

OUR CUISINE

27 West 24th Street

New York NY 10010

(212) 796-0607

[email protected]

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E-GIFT CARDS

The Journey Experience e-Gift Card in New York City, is the perfect gift for family members, friends, or important clients on your list.

TO PURCHASE A GIFT CARD

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JOURNEY'S FAQ

[email protected]

27 W. 24TH STREET NEW YORK NY 10010

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I had dinner inside a ‘volcano’ at this new immersive restaurant and bar

This new spot near Madison Square Park brings theatricality to your dinner plate.

On Monday, my dinner table began smoking and my dish emerged from a glass cover filled with even more smoke. The room glowed with the amber-red hue of lava and the sound of crackling fire filled the space. 

I was at Journey , a new restaurant, bar and lounge that is bringing “theatrical gastronomy” to New York City with immersive video installations paired with fine dining and mixology.

On its surface, it may sound like a gimmick, but a deeper dive—actually experiencing it—yields a fun night out with actually good drinks and food.

RECOMMENDED: You must solve a cipher to enter this speakeasy-styled restaurant and bar

Journey, which had a soft opening this week at its Madison Square Park location at 27 West 24th Street, is a celebration of travel and the connections we make with people on our…well, journeys. 

The playfully-decorated space shows off a massive collection of globes from thrift shops and antique stores, 3D sculptures of the world’s most famous landmarks and buildings above its bar, a display of replica antiquities, and a wall of moving classical art a-la Harry Potter.  

Each area within the space—the bar, the salon, and the café—has a theatrical element. 

At the bar, the cocktails you order (Legends of the Fall, Bloody Sunset, Apocalypto and Adordable Ruby) have accompanying comedic skits via augmented reality projected right in front of you on the bar top, including whiskey professor Ben Vereen.

In the “Epic Café,” where you can order a casual breakfast, lunch or dinner, the dishware has hidden 3D designs that you can unlock through an app on your phone.

In the beautiful and boothed Salon, which contains the collection of replica antiquities, projections bring sculptures to life and a hostess bedecked in stunning “FashionTech” couture tells you the stories behind them, adding a layer of live performance to your experience.

The bar, Salon and Epic Café each have their own menus from chef Edward Hong.

Two additional experiences are available at Journey: Journey Odyssey and Journey 360.

Opening on Friday, the 50-seat, ticketed experience Journey Odyssey creates a multisensory dinner experience at tables for two and four. Some of Broadway’s most talented performers— Cady Huffman and Judy Kaye —have filmed a series of amusing vignettes that introduce each of the five courses, which hail from different locales: an appetizer in Tokyo, the first course in Venice, and the entrée in Buenos Aires.

Perhaps the most impressive and immersive of all the experiences at Journey is Journey 360, which is where the firey table inside a volcano exists.

The ticketed culinary adventure, which fits 20 people at a time around a long, communal table, features 360 projection mapping that transports diners to four different locations across the world.

On Monday, I did the 360 experience and was whisked away (on a virtual airship named Celestine) from the top of the Empire State Building to the Amazonian rainforest to the artic, from a shipwreck under the sea to the inside of a volcano and finally to outer space. Throughout the entire five-course prix-fixe meal, the visuals and soundscape surrounding us were entertaining and were made even more exciting by an actor wearing a techie dress who led us through the trip.

Each dish corresponded to a setting—Amazonian greens (a salad made with Yuca, tocacho, hearts of palm, Cupaucu vinaigrette) in the rainforest; gin-cured arctic salmon (with cucumber, horseradish, apple and dill) at the Artic; black cod (with miyoga, bok choy and yuzu dashi glaze) under the sea; braised veal cheek (with forbidden rice risotto, harissa and marscapone); and raspberry mousse with chocolate gelato (almond texture, cardamom foam and Grand Marnier) in space.

While in the volcano, waiters placed dry ice on the table to make it smoke, then they brought out the veal, covered with glass domes. In one synchronous movement, the waiters lifted the domes and vapor poured out across the dish and our place settings. It was the crescendo, the high point, of the entire meal and it was indeed theatrical.

And yes, the visuals were fun, but the best part of the whole experience was seeing this all unfold with the people (strangers) around me. I ended up grabbing cocktails with a couple sitting across the way afterward in the salon, which is not a typical thing for me to do.

If you want to take your own journey in the middle of midtown, tickets for the shows Journey 360 and Journey Odyssey ($175pp) are available on the Tock app and at exploretock.com . Reservations for the Café or the Salon can be made through Open Table.

• Shaye Weaver Editor, Time Out New York

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Additional information

• Dining style Casual Dining
• Price $50 and over
• Cuisines American
• Hours of operation Tue–Sun 5:00 pm–10:00 pm
• Phone number (212) 796-0607
• Website https://journeyexperience.nyc/
• Payment options AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
• Dress code Casual Dress
• Executive chef Chef Judy Anderson
• Catering We can offer the intimate 20 room Journey 360, the 56 person Odyssey Room, the 100 person lounge or the 60 seat Main Dining Room and 30 seat bar for different sized events.
• Private party facilities Journey is a perfect location from groups from 10-300. Contact us at [email protected]
• Location 27 W 24th St, New York, NY 10010
• Neighborhood NoMad
• Cross street 5th and 6th Avenues
• Parking details Street Parking
• Public transit 23rd Street N/R/W at Broadway and 23rd Street F/M
• Additional Bar/Lounge, Beer, Cocktails, Entertainment, Full Bar, Gluten-free Options, Non-Smoking, Wheelchair Access, Wine

Light Bites

Nashville hot chicken $19.55, bbq brisket sandwich $21.85.

• Med rare $0.00
• Med well $0.00
• Well done $0.00

JOURNEY CHICKEN SANDWICH $19.55

The 3b's $20.70, the pork belly banh mi burger $21.85, crab croquettes $16.10, potato croquettes $12.65, pomme frites $12.65, mac & cheese gratin $12.65, spinach arancini croquettes $12.65, beet & citrus winter salad $0.00, baby gem crunch salad $0.00, grilled caesar salad $0.00, burrata $18.40, tuna tartare $20.70, scallops crudo $21.85, what 23 people are saying, overall ratings and reviews.

• 4.4 Service
• 4.3 Ambience

Noise • Moderate

Dined on February 26, 2024

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How is Journey restaurant rated?

Journey is rated 4.1 stars by 23 OpenTable diners.

27 W 24th St, New York, NY 10010

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This Theatrical Gastronomy Dining Experience Is Sure To Tantalize Your Taste Buds

Journey, a dining entertainment enterprise like no other, is serving up an unforgettable array of theatrical fine dining experiences you absolutely can't miss!

A world of beauty and adventure awaits at Journey , a global interactive dining experience. Located in Flatiron at 27 West 24th Street , Journey is spearheaded by individuals from all industries, stretching from fashion to Broadway, and culinary arts to multimedia. Think of it as a fine dining experience that’s been elevated by video installations, FashionTech, and theatre.

Helmed by Chef Edward Hong, the menu features New American cuisine with Korean influence that’s sure to satisfy. The entirely original concept takes interactive digital entertainment to the next level.

Diners can have their pick from four various experiences —each unique in their own exploration and flavor profile. They range from ticketed to non-ticketed events. Every show lasts for a duration of about 90 minutes. Guests are expected to arrive 20 minutes before their experience begins.

Whichever one you choose, it’s sure to be an unforgettable time. Find out which experience suits you best below (trust us, you can’t go wrong here):

Journey 360

This culinary voyage is a ticketed event that consists of transformative, floor-to-ceiling and tabletop 360 projection mappings. You’ll take your seat at a communal table fit for 20 and travel to five exotic destinations while you dine. Every course will take you on a new adventure, whether it’s a raging waterfall in the rainforest, the  side of a volcano, or an underwater shipwreck.

In total, Journey 360 is a five-course prix fixe meal, but insider tip, wait until you see the out-of-this-world (wink, wink) location you’ll be whisked away to at dessert. The experience truly brings you world-class dishes alongside a trip around the world, all without having to leave the table.

🍽 Book your Journey 360 reservation here

Journey Odyssey

Another ticketed event, Journey Odyssey is most similar to Journey 360 except much more intimate. Instead of sitting at a communal table of 20, you’re at tables of 2-4 people.

Throughout five courses, Broadway’s world-class performers will introduce you to a series of comic vignettes. Your appetizer will begin in Tokyo , but before you know it you’ll be jet setting to Venice for your first course and Buenos Aires for the entrée.

🍽 Book your Journey Odyssey reservation here

Journey Lounge

This non-ticketed event will seat you at a lavish bar filled with paintings and objects that come to life! 3D animations will surround and entertain you as hostesses in FashionTech couture supply you with cocktail flights with integrated video directly projected on the top of the bar.

This salon is the perfect before and after dinner drinks stop or place to impress your friends on a night out.

🍽 Reserve your Journey Lounge reservation here

Journey À La Carte

Journey À La Carte is NYC’s first-of-its-kind combination of a café, bar, and immersive fine dining with a dash of theater. Sounds like a whirlwind of entertainment, no?

From morning to night, Journey À La Carte is open from breakfast to dinner. Uncover hidden three-dimensional designs on the dishware thanks to the help of augmented reality. Plus, it even offers side-street dining in the warmer months.

🍽 Reserve your Journey À La Carte reservation here

TYPE IN YOUR SEARCH AND PRESS ENTER

Journey, a One-of-a-Kind Restaurant in New York City, Is Not to Be Missed: Details on the Unique Dining Experience

Nov. 3 2023, Published 5:02 p.m. ET

If you've ever wanted to see dinner AND a show, here's your chance! Journey NYC , located in the Big Apple , is a unique dining experience that you won't get anywhere else.

From immersive video installations to fine dining, the experience is one you won't forget, as it "takes you around the world without ever leaving the dinner table," the restaurant's website reads.

The restaurant is located in NYC.

"Journey introduces theatrical gastronomy to New York City , a wholly original entertainment and dining concept blending fine dining with an immersive experience created by a world-class team of video, fashion and Broadway creators," Co-Owner/Founder Marc Routh exclusively tells Morning Honey .

"In our increasingly fragmented society where we spend so much time isolated behind our various screens and devices, there is a heightened desire to join together. As a Broadway producer, I am aware that we’re competing for our audiences’ time with social experiences, so bringing together great food, design and performance in a playful integrated setting offers a unique and satisfying challenge," Routh adds.

The concept is original!

Journey combines four separate experiences under one roof, which makes it all the more fun!

Journey 360 combines a five course pre fixe dinner created by our award-winning international chef Diego Negri with state of the art 360-degree projection technology. The adventure is guided by a live performer with the guests seated at a communal table.

Journey Voyager and Journey Odyssey are different dining experiences utilizing tabletop projections. Patrons are seated at their own individual tables in an intimate room enveloped by the Dawn to Dusk Mural.

Stella Lounge features cocktails accompanied by comic bar top videos, inventive craft cocktails, and ever-changing content on the video “paintings” in a cozy lounge designed by Tony Award winner David Gallo.

Journey A La Carte places Chef Diego Negri’s inspired culinary creations centerstage in a setting featuring 3 D Models of famous architecture from around the globe and dinner plates designed with an augmented reality component.

Chef Diego Negri worked on the menu.

Additionally, Chef Diego Negri , who has worked at notable restaurants such as St. Theo’s, Lupa, Marea and Eleven Madison Park, is in charge of the menu, which is not to be missed.

"The menu I created is an interaction and accumulation of my life experiences, that I have learned throughout my journey — resulting in the creation of authentic dishes," Negri exclusively tells Morning Honey . "For now, I recommend trying a bit of everything to experience the originality and the combination of textures that our dishes offer to your palate."

'The experience takes you around the world without ever leaving the dinner table,' the restaurant's website reads.

This one-of-a-kind restaurant, which was designed by Broadway vet David Gallo , was conceptualized by Co-Owners Alex Cesaria (NYC and Aspen Restauranteur) and Marc Routh (8-Time Tony Award Winning Broadway Producer), is not to be missed!

For more information, click here .

The restaurant is not to be missed!

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JOURNEY, The Newest Immersive Theatrical Restaurant Experience… Opens

JOURNEY , @journeyexperiencenyc , a unique dining entertainment enterprise from Tony Award winning producer Marc Routh ( The Producers, Hairspray), introduces theatrical gastronomy to New York City with an exciting blend of immersive video installations, fine dining, fashion tech, and theatre. Created through the collaboration of a top team culled from the worlds of Broadway, fashion, multi-media, and the culinary arts, JOURNEY is a wholly original experience.

The centerpiece theatrical event is JOURNEY Odyssey , a virtual tabletop culinary experience written by Greg Edwards ( Application Pending ), directed by Tony winner John Rando ( Urinetown, On the Town, Back to the Future the Musical ), and featuring beloved Broadway talent, including Tony Award winners Judy Kaye and Cady Huffman , among others.

“Journey has come together as one of the most amazing collaborations I’ve ever been involved in,” says Marc Routh, Executive Producer, Journey/Broadway Asia International , L LC , “ with an eclectic group of artists from the worlds of theater, the visual arts, and new media as a backdrop for Executive Chef Edward Hong’s delicious culinary inventions.”

Located at 27 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10010, JOURNEY incorporates four unique experiences under one roof:

·       JOURNEY Odyssey, where live and filmed performance brings diners’ tabletops to life with comic adventures led by an award-winning Broadway cast;

·       JOURNEY 360 , where the 360-degree projections transport you from the communal table to five exotic locations for each of the courses of the prix fixe meal;

·       JOURNEY Salon , where entertaining mystery and curiosities await as you enjoy a mix of live and filmed entertainment;

·       JOURNEY Epic Café, where augmented reality brings the dinner plates to life.

In addition to seeing Ms. Kaye and Ms. Huffman in JOURNEY Odyssey, Broadway fans will delight in spotting other stage and screen favorites, such as Tony Award winner Ben Vereen, Brad Oscar, Grace McLean, Paolo Montalban, Stephen DeRosa, Arnie Burton, Deborah S. Craig, and more throughout the various installations.  

Each JOURNEY costs  $175 per person, 7 days a week. 

JOURNEY 360 : Currently open 20 PPL: A ticketed event that begins on a Zeppelin tethered to the Empire State Building circa 2022. Guests will sit at a communal table with floor-to-ceiling and tabletop 360 projection mapping. Travel to dramatic settings for each course, from a fantastic waterfall in the Rain Forest to the side of a volcano to an underwater shipwreck. The magnificent five-course prix fixe meal will end with a futuristic, otherworldly dessert set in an out-of-this-world location. Every setting has been designed to complement the cuisine while bringing the astonishing world to your table.

JOURNEY Odyssey Opening 2/6 50 PPL : Guests to this ticketed event will be able to participate in this multisensory culinary Journey in smaller groups – at tables accommodating 2 to 4 people. Broadway’s most talented performers bring to life a series of comic vignettes to introduce each of the five courses. Have your appetizer in Tokyo, your first course in Venice, and your entrée in Buenos Aires with equal measures of inventive cuisine and diverting humor.

Additional information can be found on the journey experience. NYC. Tickets for the shows Journey 360 and Journey Odyssey are available at Tock, via the app, or at exploretock.com ; Reservations for the Café or the Salon can be made through Open Table. 

Upclose and Personal With Marlo Thomas

Get Your Tix To The GMHC Cabaret & Howard Ashman Award Before It Sells Out!

Magda Katz has been in the entertainment world for most of her life as a child actress, assistant to the head publicist of Avco Embassy Pictures, theatrical print agent. She went on to manage the show business career of her 2 children for over 15 years. For the last five years Magda has been filming and editing video trailers of live performances as well as celebrity interviews. Broadway After Dark was the first website to feature her video trailers. She contributed in creating a star studded 90th birthday party for Mickey Rooney at Feinstein’s at the Regency Hotel. Her video trailers have a large international following. Videos are featured on www.t2conline.com. All of Magda’s videos can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/user/MagdaCorrespondent

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Zien has spent almost 50 years on Broadway.

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In the 90’s he replaced Michael Jeter is  Grand Hotel.

Stephen Bogardus, Chip Zien, Alison Fraser, Mary Testa

In 1992 he was Mendel in the groundbreaking William Finn and James Lapine musical Falsettos.  He appeared in all of the “Marvin Trilogy” musicals by Finn: In Trousers (1979) , March of the Falsettos (1981) , Falsettoland (1990) and Falsettos (1992) .

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In 1998 Zien was featured in another Finn musical A New Brain.  He received a 1999 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for this role.

Anne Nathan and Mary Testa

He appeared in the Off-Broadway play Isn’t It Romantic by Wendy Wasserstein and was nominated for the 1984 Drama Desk Award, Featured Actor in a Play.

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In 2005, Zien played the part of Goran in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on Broadway.

In 2007, Zien was a replacement in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables in the role of Monsieur Thénardier.

Richard Kind

From April 1 to June 19, 2011, Zien appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The People in the Picture , which played at Studio 54 on Broadway.

Sierra Boggess

Zien appeared in the Broadway musical It Shoulda Been You at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

Chip signing his portrait

In 1973, Zien made his television debut on an episode of Love, American Style . More guest roles followed. In 1981, he appeared on Ryan’s Hope  and began a two-year run in Love, Sidney, then  Reggie. He provided the voice of the title character in Marvel Comics’ Howard the Duck . Zien later starred on the short-lived CBS drama Shell Game in 1987.

Carolee Carmello, Joanna Gleason, CHip Zien

In the 1990s, Zien was part of the ensemble cast of the CBS sitcom Almost Perfect  and had regular roles in the daytime soaps  Guiding Light  and  All My Children , until 2001.

Stefano Da Frè, Chip Zien, Sierra Boggess

From 1999 to 2000, Zien had a recurring guest role on the CBS primetime drama Now and Again  and  appeared repeatedly as Attorney Cromwell on Law & Order .

During the 2002–03 season, Zien was the announcer on daytime’s The Caroline Rhea Show ,  and in 2006, he appeared in the critically acclaimed film United 93  was in the vampire comedy film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead .

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He was also in Caroline or Change on Broadway.

Bruce Sussman

Sierra Boggess, Chip Zien, Danny Kornfeld

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His last show was Harmony , the musical by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman. His role as the adult Rabbi, the last surviving Harmonist was hailed by the critic’s and audiences alike. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his portrayal.

Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman for Hamony at The Museum of Broadway

On Thursday, April 18th, The Museum of Broadway located at 145 W. 45th Street, just east of Times Square, presented a brief A Cappella performance by The Comedian Harmonists played by Steven Telsey, Blake Roman, Danny Kornfeld, Eric Peters, Sean Bell and Zal Owen, welcoming remarks were made by Julie Boardman, Co-Founder Museum of Broadway, Chip Zien the lead in Harmony was in attendance, as were Barry Manilow & Bruce Sussman.

The reason for this event was the unveiling of the Museum of Broadway’s Harmony-inspired window dedicated to The Comedian Harmonists.

In Berlin, 1927, The Comedian Harmonists were six remarkably talented young men form a singing group who become international sensations: They sold millions of records, starred in major motion pictures, and played the biggest theaters around the world. By 1935, they were never heard from again. What happened? That’s the extraordinary true story of Harmony that played on Broadway. Now The Museum of Broadway is keeping their memory alive.

Bruce Sussman and Barry Manilow

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Steven Telsey, Blake Roman, Danny Kornfeld, Eric Peters, Sean Bell and Zal Owen, and Chip Zien

Entertainment

Tribeca festival announces tv lineup.

The 2024 Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, today announced its lineup of television and original indie episodic series. The Festival, which takes place June 5-16, showcases highly anticipated world premieres of new and returning programs from networks and streamers at the forefront of groundbreaking storytelling including Apple TV+, AMC, HBO, Hulu, Paramount+, and more.

This year’s TV lineup features 11 series premieres and two first looks at returning classics. World premieres include Hulu’s Mastermind: To Think Like A Killer , executive produced by Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning, an in-depth exploration of Dr. Anne Burgess’ career and her successful journey to closing some of America’s most infamous criminal cases; Hollywood Black , executive produced by Justin Simien, an examination of the Black experience in Hollywood featuring conversations with Issa Rae, Lena Waithe, Ryan Coogler, and Ava DuVernay; and Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent , a legal thriller starring and executive produced by Jake Gyllenhaal, hailing from David E. Kelley and executive producer J.J. Abrams, also with Ruth Negga and Peter Sarsgaard.

The program also spotlights docuseries from ESPN’s In the Arena: Serena Williams, a masterclass in professional sports excellence, exploring the most pivotal and intimate moments of Serena Williams’ life and career; MSNBC’s The Turning Point: To Be Destroyed follows Dave Eggers in a fiery investigation of a local school district’s banning of his novel; and Paramount+’s Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken, an impactful two-part special about Melissa Etheridge’s bond with incarcerated women at the Topeka Correctional Facility and the power of music as a conduit of empathy and healing. Etheridge will perform a short acoustic set at the Beacon Theatre following the world premiere, presented by City National Bank.

Fan favorite shows include a return to The Walking Dead universe with season two of AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol, which follows Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) in a post-apocalyptic France and Carol Peletier’s (Melissa McBride) journey to find him, and the final season of HBO’s My Brilliant Friend finds Elena (Alba Rohrwacher) and Lila (Irene Maiorino) entangled, once again, amid the political violence and social unrest of the late 80’s in Italy.

“The episodic realm is rich in phenomenal storytelling, and Tribeca’s 2024 TV and NOW program delivers the very best of narrative and documentary series. Audiences can look forward to diving into the testimonies of brilliant visionaries like Serena Williams, Melissa Etheridge, and the original subjects of the Stanford Prison Experiment, all of whom will be joining us at the Festival to present their stories,” said Tribeca Senior Programmer Liza Domnitz. “We’re also thrilled to present international adaptations of beloved books from award-winning novelist Bernardine Evaristo with Mr. Loverman and the farewell season premiere of Elena Ferrante’s stunning My Brilliant Friend .”

Tribeca Festival’s NOW program continues to uncover compelling independent episodic work, including short and long-form pilots and series. The 2024 NOW showcase focuses on seven standout titles, including a special Untitled Tim Burton Docuseries , a journey of Tim Burton’s excellence in melding the ominous and the frightful with a sense of whimsy created by Tara Wood; Yanqui, a story of love and life’s unexpected outcomes directed by award-winning filmmaker Kyle Hausmann-Stokes; and Juice , Mawaan Rizwan’s hilariously surreal BAFTA TV nominated series, co-starring Russell Tovey (Feud).

Over the years, Tribeca’s TV program has world-premiered numerous award-winning series, including season one of FX’s The Bear with Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Ayo Edebiri; HULU’s The Handmaid’s Tale starring Elisabeth Moss and Alexis Bledel; HBO’s Chernobyl with Jared Harris, Emily Watson, and Stellan Skarsgård; and more.

The Tribeca Festival is curated by Festival Director and SVP of Programming Cara Cusumano, Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer; VP of Shorts Programming Ben Thompson; Senior Programmers Liza Domnitz, Faridah Gbadamosi, Jarod Neece, José F. Rodriguez; Programmers Casey Baron, Jason Gutierrez, Jonathan Penner, and Madison Egan; VP of Games and Immersive Casey Baltes and Immersive Curator Ana Brzezińska; EVP of Artist Relations Nancy Lefkowitz and VP of Artist Relations Meredith Mohr; Curator of Audio Storytelling Davy Gardner; Music Programmer Vincent Cassous; along with a team of associate programmers; supported and inspired by the legendary Paula Weinstein.

The full TV and NOW lineups are detailed below. For more updates on programming follow @Tribeca and #Tribeca2024 on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , and LinkedIn , and to purchase passes and ticket packages for the 2024 Tribeca Festival, go to tribecafilm.com/festival .

Book Reviews

Live from the hotel edison times square chronicles presents four award-winning musical theatre writers who turned to writing books.

“Live From The Hotel Edison Times Square Chronicles Presents”, is  filmed live every Wednesday from 5 – 6 in the lobby of the iconic Hotel Edison, before a live audience.

In this episode T2C’s publisher and owner Suzanna Bowling talks with Douglas J Cohen, Stephen Cole ,Alison Louise Hubbard and David Spencer, musical theatre writers, who all have books out.

I am so grateful to my guests Douglas J Cohen How To Survive A Killer Musical: Agony and Ecstasy on the Road to Broadway , Stephen Cole Mary & Ethel… and Mikey Who? , Alison Louise Hubbard The Kelsey Outrage , The Crime of the Century A historical true crime novel  and David Spencer   The Novelizers: An Affectionate History of Media Adaptations and Originals, Their Astonishing Authors—and the Art of the Craft

Thank-you Magda Katz for videoing and creating the content to go live, the audience who showed up to support us, Rommel Gopez and The Hotel Edison for their kindness and hospitality.

You can catch us on the following platforms:

https://www.pandora.com/podcast/live-from-the-edison-hotel-times-square-chronicles-presents/PC:1001084740

https://www.stitcher.com/show/1084740

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e3ac5922-ada8-4868-b531-12d06e0576d3

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-from-the-edison-hotel-times-square-chronicles-presents/id1731059092

We hope to see you there on April 24th. We will be announcing our guests tomorrow.

Jackie Siegel’s New Premium Brand, Queen Of Versailles Coffee Is A Luxurious Coffee Delight

Jackie Siegel, American heiress and businesswoman AJ Catsimatidis, Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe and brand partner Michael Glovaski

I was invited to an intimate tasting of a fabulous new premium brand coffee c o-hosted alongside Queen of Versailles Coffee’s Brand Partner, Michael Glovask i . I headed to 8 East 48th Street to Benny John’s where socialite, actress, model and philanthropist turned entrepreneur, Jackie Siegel — AKA, ‘The Real Queen of Versailles’ brought her new venture  Queen of Versailles Coffee  to New York’s influencers.

Jackie Siegel

American heiress and businesswoman AJ Catsimatidis, Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, and Suzanna Bowling

Adam Weiss and Angela Gorman

On site was also American heiress and businesswoman AJ Catsimatidis, Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, the writer of the new musical Queen of Versailles  Lindsey Ferrentino, Gordon Winston, Italian restaurateur and master coffee blender Matteo  and Pilar .

Jackie Siegel and Gordon Winston

Jackie Siegel, American heiress and businesswoman AJ Catsimatidis, Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe

Siegel, alongside Miami-based Glovaski and the Italian-Guatemalan Droccos, are introducing an unmatched level of luxury to the coffee industry. Catering to the modern connoisseur, the brand provides not just a superior coffee experience, but an escape into the world of supreme elegance with every canister.

The event was well done, serving treats but most of all, a taste of this exquisite coffee, that you will be addicted to once you taste it.

Available at  https://qvcoffee.com/

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Where Broadway and Cabaret Meet

A New and Unique Immersive Theatrical Restaurant Experience, JOURNEY, Comes to NoMad

February 17, 2023 NiteLife Exchange Ad Lib on NiteLife 0

On Thursday, February 16, 2023, City Council Member Erik Bottcher and other local elected officials came together to celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony of JOURNEY , a new restaurant, bar and lounge in NoMad, bringing “theatrical gastronomy” to New York City. The new venue offers a blend of immersive video installations, fine dining, FashionTech and Broadway performers.

JOURNEY is the unique dining entertainment enterprise from Tony Award-winning producer Marc Routh ( The Producers, Hairspray) and restauranteur Alex Cesaria . The concept and execution of the space was created through the collaboration of a team culled from the worlds of Broadway, fashion, multi-media and the culinary arts in which the intent was to offer an original and futuristic gastronomic experience.

JOURNEY incorporates four experiences under one roof:

• JOURNEY Odyssey, where live and filmed performance bring diners’ tabletops to life with comic adventures led by an award-winning Broadway cast;
• JOURNEY 360 , where 360-degree projections transport patrons from the communal table to five exotic locations for each of the courses of the prix fixe meal;
• JOURNEY Salon , where mystery and curiosities are presented in a mix of live and filmed entertainment;
• JOURNEY Epic Café, where augmented reality brings the dinner plates to life.

In addition to Tony Award winners Judy Kaye, Cady Huffman and Deborah S. Craig in JOURNEY Odyssey, Broadway fans will delight in spotting other stage and screen favorites, such as Tony Award winner Ben Vereen, Brad Oscar, Grace McLean, Paolo Montalban, Stephen DeRosa, Arnie Burton and more throughout the various installations.

The menu includes dishes such as New York City – Tomato with Smoked Crème Fraiche, Crispy Shallots, Red Onion Jam, and Basil; Rain Forest – Amazonia Greens with Yuca, Tacacho, Hearts of Palm, and Cupaucu Vinaigrette; Volcano – King Oyster Mushroom with Forbidden Rice Risotto, Harissa, Mascarpone; and Out of Space – Raspberry Mousse with Chocolate Ice Cream, Almond Textures, and Cardamom Foam. Cocktails come with names like Apocalypto (Mezcal Joven, D’Aristi Xtabentum Honey Liquor, egg whites, lime juice, and cinnamon), and Tsukimi (Sweet Potato Shochu, Sweet Potato Puree, Maple-Cinnamon Syrup, Chocolate Bitters and garnished with a Sweet Potato Chip).

JOURNEY’s creative team also includes Tony and Emmy-winning designer David Gallo, visual artist Claudia Hart, lighting designer Peiheng Tsai, writers Greg Edwards and Marisa Smith, video creators Illuminating Magic and Atractor Studio, Tony-winning director John Rando, fashion tech designer Anouk Wipprecht, Artist Liaison Asher Remy-Toledo, Olivier and Tony-nominated costume designer David Woolard. JOURNEY’s Executive Chef is Edward Hong. 

For more information about Journey, visit journeyexperience.nyc. Tickets for the shows Journey 360 and Journey Odyssey are available at Tock, via the app, or at www.exploretock.com; Reservations for the Café or the Salon can be made through Open Table.

JOURNEY is located at 27 W. 24 Street, New York, NY.

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• Alex Cesaria
• Arnie Burton
• Cady Huffman
• Deborah S. Craig
• Erik Bottcher
• Grace McLean
• JOURNEY 360
• JOURNEY Epic Café
• JOURNEY Odyssey
• Paolo Montalban
• Stephen DeRosa
• Theatrical gastronomy

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Copyright © 2024 | NiteLife Exchange by ScoBar Entertainment

Journey, an immersive dining experience

Submitted by Asher Remy-Toledo

Client: Broadway International

Location: New York, NY, United States

Completion date: 2022

Project Team

Creative Team

Asher Remy-Toledo

Broadway International

This is a project currently under construction in New York City’s Flatiron District. I am part of the creative team with a focus on the multimedia content which merges video, FashionTech, augmented reality, and experiential media in this 13,000 SF venue. Blending fine dining with an immersive experience created by a world class team of video, fashion and Broadway creators, Journey combines cutting-edge techniques in 3D animation, video projection mapping and theatrical design paired with high end international cuisine.

The design team was tasked with collaborating on elements which would result in a unified narrative and yet allow each of the experiences to work independently.

The process has been an exhilarating collaboration between the artists (theatrical design team, FashionTech, Augmented Reality, Video Design, Directors, Writers, Filmed Performers and Live Performers.

Additional Information

The flagship location in the Flatiron District will launch the project which is expected to be expanded to multiple locations after the premiere.

Add to Design Board

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THE #1 AV NEWS PUBLICATION. PERIOD.

VIOSO Takes Diners on Immersive Journey in New York Restaurant

Gibson Kete

June 12, 2023 - AV Buyers.Club , Case Studies , Case Studies , ProAV News , rAVe [PUBS] , RTA ,

Billed as “theatrical gastronomy,” Journey , at 27 West 24th Street, offers a multitude of ways to dine and be immersed in entertainment. An offering from the brains behind some of the biggest Broadway shows, utilising the most advanced technology, Journey takes dining to the next level, pairing food by acclaimed chef Eddie Hong with projection-mapped visuals, audio and live actors.

The Journey restaurant is divided into four experiences: Journey Lounge, Journey Epic Café, Journey Odyssey, and Journey 360. Thirty-seven ultra-high-definition video projectors, along with 12 OLED screens, fill the restaurant, totalling 250 million pixels.

One of the main challenges involved hiding from view the 37 projectors needed to create the experience. “We didn’t want this to look like a mess of AV equipment – the restaurant was designed by award-winning Broadway designers and has a unique aesthetic in itself, so I was dead-set in hiding the projectors in light shades and in the ceiling as much as I possibly could,” explains Jason McFerran of integrator Illuminating Magic.The star of the Journey experience is Journey 360, a private room that offers communal seating for up to 20 guests. Upon entering, diners are surrounded on every wall with seamless projection, even contiguous along the 24-foot table (12,288 pixels), while 12 projectors fill the chamber but hide neatly within the ceiling. Using a VIOSO camera calibration system, all projectors are kept in perfect warp and blend for the life of the establishment.

Illuminating Magic  has previously worked on other immersive dining experiences, including Le Petit Chef at New York rooftop restaurant The View, whose combination of four-course dining with 3D visual storytelling (guests’ meals are ‘cooked’ by the eponymous chef, who stands 6cm tall) has garnered millions of views on social media. Journey, however, is the first to incorporate several different dining experiences with varying levels: wall animations, bar-top, tabletop and full 360°.

The combination of a “cutting-edge video presentation with four channels of spatial audio to accompany your gastronomic adventure is what true immersion looks like – an unforgettable dining experience that caters to all five senses,” says Kevin Zevchik, US director of VIOSO. Further immersion is provided by enabling guests to interact with the environment around them – for example, by writing graffiti on the walls or creating unique snowflakes in the Arctic, all by using their smartphone.

Produced and developed by Zanim8tion, the Journey 360 video content – which includes journeys to the banks of the Amazon, the Atlantic Ocean floor and the inside of an active volcano – was created completely in Unreal Engine with a custom-made four-camera rig that renders the immersive 360° views. This, explains McFerran, came with additional “inherent risks, including camera intrinsics, parallaxes, Z-fighting, and quadrupled render errors”.

“Sustaining the 360° visuals is not only a feat from the content creation, but also a requirement from the VIOSO auto-calibration,” adds Zevchik. “Given the nature of the buildings in New York City, it is nearly impossible to guarantee a perfect blend every day without auto-cal.”

Playback is also handled by VIOSO hardware, with an Anystation Media server, powered by IOversal Vertex, delivering the ultra-high-resolution visuals key to providing Journey 360’s sense of immersion.

Since launching, the restaurant – and in particular Journey 360 – has garnered rave reviews from critics and customers alike, with positive reviews in Time Out and the New York Times and being named one of the top-four dining experiences in New York City by Forbes.

“We are delighted to have played our part in the creation of Journey, which has deservedly taken the New York dining scene by storm,” says Zevchik. “As a showcase for how immersive video, properly calibrated, can elevate the gastronomic experience, Journey has well and truly earned its place among the greatest dining experiences in the city that never sleeps.”

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JOURNEY EXPERIENCE NYC

Immersive dining in the flatiron district.

Enter Journey Experience NYC and you will immediately feel like you’re in an elegant and sophisticated dining room. Go to the back and side rooms, and you will find unique immersive experiences that are $175 per person—but worth every penny. 

The Journey 360 room is fascinating. Picture a long communal table with classic white linens and five-course menus neatly tucked into the napkin with each guest’s name projected onto their seating spot! In addition, there are projections on the walls around you that make you feel as if you are dining in a zeppelin tethered to the Empire State Building and other famous landmarks around the world. Some of the different experiences within this unique eatery include a dark back lounge with fantastic art and furniture from around the world, including a “bottomless” table with endless swirls of lightbulbs under the glass.

The two masterminds behind Journey Experience NYC are Broadway producer Marc Routh, a co-owner of the Tony Award-winning Broadway supper club 54 Below, and noted restauranteur Alex Vanderbilt. Both are proud of the high praise they are getting for their groundbreaking project. Vanderbilt told New York Lifestyles, “Journey 360 is more multimedia and technology-based, so it feels extremely intriguing when you sit at the table with your name emblazoned on the seat. Journey Odyssey is more theatrical and has that life-actor integration that makes the show feel more Broadway and less technology.”  

However, the star in both experiences is the food, the quality, and the creativity of the dishes. Chef Edward Hong has created each dish to support the location and narrative while surprising and delighting the guests through traditional culinary sensations of taste, smell, and visuals. The cuisine is a real mix of styles and includes a lot of raw fish. Vanderbilt calls it “new American cuisine with a Korean influence. We are so proud of our care in preparing and sourcing farm-to-table ingredients, to the prime choice of fish, meat, and other proteins.” In addition, sitting at either the front or back-room bars provides a la carte off an elevated bar menu—with no reservations required. 

AN “EPIC” EXPERIENCE If you want standard dining without immersive experiences, book an a la carte dinner in the front room, Journey Epic Café. The go-to dishes we tried and have been obsessed with ever since included the appetizers: the Wagyu Sliders which are a meal in themselves—you get three giant dry-aged sliders topped with artisanal melted cheddar. Finally, we teamed those burgers with the Disco Fries, hearty sticks of potatoes boiled, fried, and then baked with melted Gouda and herbs. 

When it came time for the entrees, we decided to go big or go home and share a large steak! The dry-aged Tomahawk Steak is an impressive 40 ounces, including the extra-large bone, and can feed three or four people! It is sided with homemade chimichurri sauce, roasted veggies including multicolored carrots, and super buttery mashed potatoes, the perfect medium-to-firm consistency! 

For dessert, we split the Raspberry Mousse and Baba Au Rhum, which are done halfway between “deconstructed” and “classic” styles. The Raspberry Mousse features a unique consistency, almost like cookie crumbs have been mixed in, while the Baba Au Rhum is served warm, with homemade custard in both the center and on top. 

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO Each night has different immersive experiences, and there will be more choices as time goes on—check the Journey Experience NYC website for the themes available the night you want to book.

If you want simple a la carte dining in the Journey Epic Café but still want to experience the projections, you can visit the bars and ask the friendly bartenders to show you some visuals.  

The most popular immersive journey is Journey Odyssey. It features Broadway performers Cady Huffman and Judy Kate doing vignettes about visiting each country representing the five courses. The Journey 360 option gives you the experience of dining in the center of a volcano. Amazingly, dry ice is placed on your table, so diners are engulfed in smoke when your food comes out. (Now, that’s what we would call “theatrical gastronomy” at its most extreme!)  

For more information on Journey Experience NYC, visit journeyexperience.nyc  

JOURNEY NYC Presents their Holiday Season Dining

JOURNEY NYC

There is no need to stress about planning the last-minute dinner plans because  Journey NYC   at 27 W 24th St, New York, NY 10010 is here to make your life a lot easier with special 3 course pre-fixe menu.  They are serving seasonal specialty items for the holiday, along with their classics. With tabletop video projections in the holiday spirit as we travel around the world, this is bound to have a festive vibe for friends and family that won’t have you lifting a finger.

The holiday offering features a welcome drink of Prosecco and your choice of an appetizer, salad, and entrée in the beautiful Voyager Room designed by Broadway Tony-Award winner David Gallo . Appetizer choices include; Peruvian Ceviche Zesty ceviche, Japanese Aubergine or Crispy Calamari. Salad choices include Caesar Salad, Pumpkin Harvest Salad, or Arugula salad. Guests can choose from Grilled Branzino, Marinated Grilled Skirt Steak, or Pollo al Mattone Chicken for their entrée.  The cost is $85 per person not including tax and gratuity and there’s an optional wine pairing for $35 additional. Journey is additionally serving up a special holiday treat, Santa’s Forest which is a Chocolate espresso cake with mascarpone, maple ice cream, and a pistachio tuile and toffee sauce. Other dessert options include Key Lime Tart, Poisoned Apple, and sorbet. Dessert is an additional cost.

Re servations with this holiday menu are available from December 19th to December 30th excluding Christmas Day from 6-9pm.  Visit  https://www.journeyexperience.nyc/ . 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Journey NYC

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Came w high expectations and willing to pay for exquisite cuisine. Having enjoyed immersive dining before my point of reference was high , but also paid dearly for the privilege including 20 percent tip. Wine pairing was sparkling wine , Sauvignon blanc, Pinot gris ,... Shiraz and an intended moscato which I believe was exchanged in error for a 2nd round of pinot Gris Reasonable tasting pours for all whites , tiny Shiraz pour. Food was decent starting w a salad overpured w vinegar , then an appetizer tuna tartar bite followed by a very tasty octopus dish. The favorite by far followed by halibut w edamame purre and subsequently short ribs w grapes and a small garnish on the side. Too easy , too little on the sides. Desert was insignificant and served in a non descript shell that took up more space than the 3 small bites of dessert inside the shell. The Service was ok, staff did good and engaging job but were supposed to be the garnish on a fabulous dining experience. The themed story line was ok however multiple Graphics are poor definition Disappointed to consider how much I paid for this considering quality. Visit Frenessi and see the type of execution to be expected at this price. More

Amazing drinks, atmosphere, and waitstaff! The interior design offers many surprises. For dinner, the 360 and Odyssey rooms require reservations which I did not have, but they looked amazing. I can’t wait to come back!

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The Hottest New Restaurants in New York City This Spring

By Elise Taylor and Jessie Heyman

Trying new restaurants in New York City is part of the fun of being there: in 2023, there were 71 Michelin-starred eateries across the five boroughs, more than any other city in the United States. Each year, several more are nominated for (and often win) a James Beard award—a.k.a “the foodie Oscars.” And those are just the places with significant accolades: on any given day, on any given corner, you’ll see a thriving restaurant packed with its neighborhood regulars. For Gothamites, after all, going out to eat is a social activity, a hobby, and an adventure.

Over the past few months, the city has welcomed a number of notable new restaurants well worth the reservation. Below, find the hottest New York City restaurants this spring.

San Sabino (West Village)

The husband and wife culinary team of Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli describe San Sabino as “Italian American”—and indeed, their menu includes melting-pot meals like shrimp parmesan, shrimp Louie salad, lobster ravioli, as well as crab and mortadella dip. “We’re just trying to have fun and kind of put a new spin on things,” Rito previously told Vogue. Yet don’t let their delightful unpretentious fool you: their other restaurant, Don Angie, earned a Michelin star in 2021 and remains one of the most sought-after reservations in New York. San Sabino is fun, but also a tastebud tour-de-force deserving of critical acclaim. –Elise Taylor, senior living writer

Cecily (Greenpoint)

By Margaux Anbouba

By Leah Faye Cooper

By Audrey Noble

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Cecily was just another well-lit small-plates spot. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that; it’s a New York mainstay for a reason.) But Cecily—the newest venture from the team behind other Brooklyn beloved haunts like The Four Horsemen and Estella—is perhaps the platonic ideal of a modern neighborhood restaurant. The menu, just a dozen dishes long, is deceptively simple: chicory salad, butter beans, winter panzanella, roast chicken. Every dish, every ingredient, is so understandable; no fussy gastronomy here—just some of the best (and most bountiful) plates of food I’ve had in recent memory. Everything is excellent, but the mussel toast—a happy hybrid of moules-frites and a po’ boy—is worth a trip to Greenpoint alone. –Jessie Heyman, executive editor

Demo (West Village)

Calling Demo a wine bar feels diminutive—although with only forty seats and a great selection of bottles, it very much is. (“Nice night for a Cabernet Franc,” reads a recent Instagram caption.) Yet the pared-back menu is also perfection. Foccacia and olive oil come with anchovies, whereas a crab casino is crusted with Ritz crackers. For heartier fare, opt for a juicy half chicken or lobster au poivre. Just make sure to leave room for the banana pudding. –E.T.

Beef Bar (TriBeCa)

With locations in St. Tropez, Monte Carlo, Mykonos, and Dubai, Beef Bar is a restaurant that caters to a see-and-be-seen clientele—who also happens to enjoy a fine cut of meat. This spring, they put up their velvet rope in front of a 6,000-foot space in Downtown New York. Inside, a dining room with Verde Alpi marble tables awaits, lined with dining chairs upholstered in Pierre Frey fabrics. A lounge, meanwhile, embraces an Art Deco-like interior and includes a DJ booth. As the name implies, steak is the thing to order. But also don’t skip on the street food section of the menu, which features a number of creative yet more casual dishes: think Wagyu beef quesadillas, bao buns, and bite-sized croque monsieurs with ham and mozzarella cheese. –E.T.

Coqodaq (Flatiron)

I haven’t exactly checked in with any analytics agency, but Coqodaq has to be the most Instagrammed New York City restaurant as of late. (Their caviar-covered chicken nuggets are particularly the subject of social media snaps.) Viral food aside, the Simon Kim-run restaurant (of Cote fame) has captured the cultural culinary zeitgeist due to its creative take on Korean fried chicken: patrons order buckets of crispy poultry coated in soy sauce garlic or gochujang glaze, along with traditional American sides like mac and cheese or coleslaw. The result? An evening of cultural crossed, elevated comfort food. The interiors are also impressive: the David Rockwell-designed restaurant boasts grand illuminated arches, green velvet banquettes, and the most beautiful hand-washing station you’ve ever seen. —E.T.

Theodora (Fort Greene)

My neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, has seen a fleet of buzzy openings in the past few years—the Milanese-inspired Saraghina, the impossibly popular Sailor—and now, to tucked-away 7 Greene Avenue, comes Theodora, which already has the area swooning. There’s a good reason for the fuss: the restaurant is from chef Tomer Blechman of Miss Ada (another local hotspot) and delivers a dynamic, seafood-forward Mediterranean menu. Hype can be a dangerous thing (how can a little radish possibly live up to all that pressure?), but I can happily say that in Theodora’s case, it’s entirely deserved. The restaurant is immediately transporting (the decor is Mexico City meets Tel Aviv) and the food feels just as special. You’ll be tempted to pull out your phone—especially to capture the za’atar kubaneh, a cinnamon bun-style savory pastry served with three dips—but mostly you’ll be too busy eating. The whole menu is a knock-out, just make sure you save room for dessert: a deconstructed baklava sundae with tahini ice cream. –J.H.

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Why Are So Many Restaurants Now Opening For Lunch?

Past the power lunch, places with tough-to-get reservations are opening for the midday meal

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Almost a year beyond the return of the power lunch , lunch — period — is back, with multiple restaurants that are often booked for dinner rolling out the midday meal within the past few weeks. And it’s not just places near offices in Midtown: It’s all around the city, from hotels to off-the-beaten-path neighborhood spots.

The lunch momentum has been building, with reservations up nearly 20 percent from the year prior, according to Debby Soo, CEO of OpenTable , in part due to a return to the office. It makes sense to roll out a new service, with profit margins dropping nearly 10 percent last year, and debt a looming concern, according to a yearlong study on NYC dining from Touch Bistro , a restaurant software company. Still, daytime can be a risk — and banks on white-collar workers who have leisure time (and money) for longer meals in the middle of the day.

Roscioli — the Soho hotspot where writer Jay McInerney almost ignored a doctor’s call to go to the ER because he didn’t want to leave his table — just started a three-course, prix-fixe lunch. The upstairs in the bi-level Roman import is a team-up with Ariel Arce, of Tokyo Record Bar, that opened last year.

Arce notes that with reservations more competitive than ever , an even earlier dining time — lunch — is the new post-pandemic, 5 p.m. reservation. “More people have flexible schedules to dine during the day,” she says. “And with the limited demand that all these small restaurants have, the only way to provide more is to open by day.”

Reservations and walk-in seating are both lunch options for the 60-seat ground-level space, though she suggests early in the week as the best time to score a table. Lunch is a rotating menu that can include a Treviso salad with pine nuts and fiore Sardo, cacio e pepe suppli, and mezze maniche alla Amatriciana.

In Tribeca, Houseman , which opened in 2015, is serving lunch for the first time; it’s a statement, considering that the restaurant sits on a stretch of Greenwich Street that historically doesn’t see much daytime foot traffic.

“Our neighborhood has been slow to recover from the pandemic,” owner Ned Baldwin wrote in an email, “however, based on what I see at the subway station in the morning and at the local Sweetgreen during the lunch hour, it looks like people are finally coming back to work.” The restaurant started serving a lunch that includes a chicken tomatillo soup ($21), a fried tilefish sandwich with spicy mayo and pickles ($25), and a littleneck clam and potato dish ($25) on April 2, Tuesday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

He also acknowledges that some big changes in the neighborhood are ushering in more foot traffic, including the new Google location in St. John’s Terminal that opened this season and “the giant Disney headquarters on Spring,” that’s coming in July. “That’s a lot of new mouths in close proximity to Houseman,” Baldwin told Eater. “On the other hand, mostly because of pandemic ups and downs, I’ve started new services enough times by now that I’m mentally ready for lunch to be a slow grow.”

A booked-out restaurant across the river in Brooklyn, Laser Wolf is now taking reservations for Saturday and Sunday lunch (not brunch) that will start May 4 — and the reservations are already gone for the first week of May. As to why they’re rolling out lunch two years after the restaurant debut, it’s “because of the insane demand,” says Brian Jackson, director of food and beverage for the Hoxton Hotel. Daytime can be an expensive undertaking for a restaurant, especially without the same alcohol sales, as three-martini lunches have become largely a thing of the past. But the hotel is better primed than others in the area, with built-in tourists.

“The number one complaint at Laser Wolf still to this day is how hard it is to get a reservation,” he says, “so our goal with lunch is to create additional services for guests to dine and experience Laser Wolf.”

Lunch at Laser Wolf is a prix-fixe menu of $39 ($35 for vegetarian) served family style, just like dinner service. It will include daily selection of four salatim, hummus and pita, and choice of chicken, salmon, or steak shishlik; lamb kofta, or vegetables with rice. Lunch service, from noon to 3 p.m., will be an option on weekends, too. (Seats for May 11 go live this coming Saturday at 10 a.m. and for May 12, this coming Sunday, and so on.)

And while Laser Wolf introduced lunch years after opening, Gabriel Stulman’s Brooklyn restaurant with April Bloomfield, Sailor — a neighborhood spot far from the Midtown weekday bustle — rolled out lunch in February, six months after opening, with a menu of grilled cheese and tomato sandwich ($19) and striped bass with sunchokes ($33). Though Fort Greene is sleepy during the week, Stulman has a knack for neighborhood lunch. His other places under the Happy Cooking umbrella — which include Joseph Leonard, Jeffrey’s Grocery, and Fairfax — have historically catered to a daytime as well as a dinner clientele.

The uptown revival from chef Daniel Boulud, Cafe Boulud also just rolled out the midday meal. “The original Cafe Boulud was always open for lunch and drew a crowd that was a wonderful mix of social celebrations and business lunches,” says Boulud. One can imagine the socialite Swans of the new Truman Capote show gabbing over a la carte offerings of oysters, hamachi, a salad, and mains like black truffle croque monsieur ($40), or fusilli primavera ($25 or $42). Lunch is available from noon to 2:30 p.m.

Over in the East Village in the former Odessa space, Superiority Burger started its lunch service on April 1 – serving fries for the first time in its near-decade history. As far as why open for lunch, “Part of the dream for Brooks in being in this space was to be open all the time, says partner Sheryl Heefner. “It was the goal from day one.”

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New York City's new Gilded Age

For Wall Street's elite, dining out is suddenly louder and more extravagant than ever.

The bars and restaurants that put the glint on New York City never stopped partying.

While the rest of the country — businesses, investors , economists , regular people — misspent 2023 in a state of anxiety, waiting for a recession that never came, the bastions of New York City's dining elite came out of the pandemic louder, prouder, and more extravagant than ever.

Here, it's ancient Rome. And if New York City has a legalized form of popular bloodsport, it's the restaurant business.

To dine at the most sought-after restaurants is an exercise in one's capacity to tolerate rejection . In old New York, money and cache were the currencies that could, eventually, find you a seat wherever you wanted. But the internet and reservation apps like Resy have removed person-to-person contact in these bookings and turned scoring a coveted table into the shortest video game ever played . Status still talks, but tech nerds who've programmed bots to crawl for reservations have added a disconcerting new layer. Recently, I met a man who has a constant crawl for a five-person table at a chic new restaurant. He was very proud of himself for this. I was not.

The surge of demand doesn't mean everything has been easy. Food prices have risen steadily, the hot job market has made workers hard to find and keep, and, of course, there's the inexorable rise of New York City rents. Yet new restaurants have kept coming. And not just any restaurants — luxurious, maximalist restaurants with ingredients as international as the city itself.

The new wave of eateries is also a stark contrast to the previous era of NYC dining. After the financial crisis, the city put on a black turtleneck à la Steve Jobs and presented everything with clean lines and prized understatement. Now it's returned to something that looks more like the Gilded Age — a maximalist mob-wife aesthetic that orders "more with a side of much more." The city's bars have gone rococo as well. Is there a greater vote of confidence in New York's economic recovery than opening a tiki bar that feels like a dive, hangs florals like a wedding at the Grand Prospect Hall , and asks people to pay $25 for a cocktail called "Tarman"?

Beneath the city's shimmering victory over the pandemic and dining's glorious return as Gotham's favorite pastime, there's still a great divide between the haves and the have-nots . As the pandemic emergency abated, our weird new economy revealed the dramatic difference between Americans who feel they can handle an inflationary shock and those who cannot. So it makes sense that Manhattan, where the income gap is greater than any other county in the country, has been the vanguard of this American vibe revolution. It is a granite island of hungry rich people looking for something to do — Wall Street bankers, tech executives, generationally wealthy people, the famous and beautiful. In a country roiled by recession worries, those at the top of New York City — for better or worse — couldn't give a single gilded shit.

The Big Apple bites back

Opening a new business anywhere is an act of hope. Opening a restaurant even more so. Opening a restaurant in New York City requires the faith of a medieval saint. For an industry that already existed on a knife's edge, the pandemic looked like it could be a catastrophic blow . Were it not for delivery apps, creative outdoor seating , and many New Yorkers' stubborn resistance to learning to use their apartment kitchens, we might have lost even more of our eateries than we did. In this town, an unlisted, unmarked, hole-in-the-wall serving top-flight Xinjiang noodles can be every bit a destination as Tavern on the Green — and the food will probably be better. Even with this chaos, New York is a city that embraces bizarre circumstances, and when the pandemic took hold, that became its superpower.

"I think the city and New Yorkers are so different and so unfazed by it. Remember when there were a million people eating outside?" Jennifer Saesue, a Manhattan restaurateur, said.

Saesue opened her first restaurant, Fish Cheeks, in 2017, and before long, it became a staple for the downtown set. During the pandemic, Fish Cheeks survived as other restaurants did — ramping up takeout and setting up outdoor seating. Saesue said that after a lull during lockdowns, its revenue clicked back into the normal cycle of the city's restaurant business: a slow start to the year, a busy spring, a slower summer, and then full-on mania starting in the fall and through the holiday season.

There are new, hot restaurants opening every freaking week.

Since then, New Yorkers staved off recession fears by simply spending like it would never come — especially on food, drinks, and entertainment. By the end of March 2023, nightlife spending reached 11% above pre-pandemic levels, a report from Mastercard found. It's not hard to understand why. Few people in the country lived as cramped an existence through the pandemic as New Yorkers did. Once it was over, they bet everything on the return of the institutions that form the backbone of the city's culture. The rest of the country could keep their weak vibes. For New York City, a brush with death called for a time of decadence.

"I feel like we are back to where we were pre-pandemic. Now more than ever, people are spending, and even more so, restaurants are opening back up," Saesue told me. "There are new, hot restaurants opening every freaking week."

So that's what the city's doing now. Get into it. Clubsteraunts are back, and Gen Z — a generation that claims to dislike fun — can be seen there in full force. The city's bistros have met this enthusiasm by upping their game. Chefs in New York have somehow yassified hard-boiled eggs, and LCD Soundsystem's frontman James Murphy has a restaurant that's selling them for $25. Naturally, those eggs have caviar on them. There's caviar everywhere. At Coqodaq, a just-opened Korean fried chicken restaurant that looks like a Las Vegas church, you can order a perfectly crisped nugget with caviar on it. It will cost you $28 and whatever it takes you to get through a meal while watching packs of TikTok food influencers completely lose their minds.

As the kids might say, "Nature is healing." The city's affluent consists of the same Wall Street workhorses, fashion and public-relations power brokers, trust-fund babies (American and foreign), chic people, quasi-creatives of advertising, total nerds of tech, and straight-up, never-sleeping hustlers — but their tastes have changed. Members-only social clubs and restaurants abound. The new Aman New York has a private club with a $200,000 initiation fee, and the boys who brought us Carbone have a private restaurant called ZZ's with a $20,000 initiation fee and $10,000 annual membership. There are the Casas — Cruz and Cipriani (both private clubs, no relation) — and the old mainstay Soho House, which has expanded to three locations in the city. Private clubs delineating the space between the haves and the have-nots were a feature of the first Gilded Age. Here we are again, except now the most sought-after restaurants can function almost as exclusively as clubs — know someone, wait for hours, game the digital-reservation system, beg (maybe) — and then maybe you'll get a seat at a decent time to eat, like 9:30 p.m. (if you're lucky) or 5:30 p.m. (if you've given up on fun).

It doesn't seem like people are thinking about the recession that much. I think they're talking about it, but their behavior doesn't say that.

Saesue opened her second concept, Bangkok Supper Club, in the West Village in 2023. It was immediately met with critical acclaim and the kind of success that makes getting a reservation an only-in-NYC kind of status symbol.

"Looking from where I am," Saesue told me, "it doesn't seem like people are thinking about the recession that much. I think they're talking about it, but their behavior doesn't say that."

A city is lucky if it has two or three dining rooms ethereal enough to transport you to a world in which everything you see or touch is precious. In the past few years, New York has opened them at a steady clip. Most recently, the famed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten opened Four Twenty-Five on Park Avenue, where it feels like you are dining on a crystal cloud. It's a place to watch a very classic uptown New York City crowd — an older set of ultraprofessionals, mom and dad on date night, women who have enough money but too much self-awareness to be on "Real Housewives," money managers drinking at the gorgeous bar after a late night at the office ( yes, they're going to the office ). For these people, there must be elegance at all times.

Not all of NYC nightlife is focused on making things fancy; some of it is just theatrical and fun. In the East Village, Paradise Lost transports patrons to a tiki bar located on a choppy beach near the capitol of Hell. It works because the drinks are a full-on show. The Saturn, a vintage gin cocktail that won the 1967 IBA championship, comes smoking with dry ice. And if you order the Lady of the Beasts, you'll experience what the bar calls "fire and show." Bongo drums will ring out through the bar, and your server will present the cocktail to you in a dazzle of flames. The Lady is just one of a few cocktails on the menu that come with all of that drama. If there is a hard landing for the US economy, NYC will have to meet it with a bit of a hangover. After what the city went through, it will have been worth it.

The full vibespace

A survey of New York City's most glimmering restaurants and competitive cocktailers is, of course, an incomplete picture of how the city is recovering. The pandemic was a violent lesson in how an inflationary shock impacts the affluent much less than everyone else. And that makes for complex vibes.

According to a report from TouchBistro, a company that provides point-of-sales services to restaurants, NYC restaurant margins averaged around 9.2% in 2023, down from 10.1% a year in 2022 and just below the national average of 9.3%. Food operators said they spent 43% more on food costs in 2023 than they did in 2022, the highest jump in the country. And while employers in other parts of the economy are regaining the upper hand, staff turnover at NYC restaurants was around 31% in 2023. The national average turnover rate sat at 28%. Every restaurant is facing these issues, but businesses' ability to deal with increasing costs — while holding onto customers — varies greatly. A December survey from the New York City Hospitality Alliance found that while 37% of respondents felt positive about future business revenue, 30% percent of respondents were feeling pessimistic about the future, and another 20% felt uncertain.

"New York City's restaurants and bars are experiencing an uneven pandemic recovery nearly four years after COVID-19 struck our city," Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, said. "While some have recovered, others still struggle."

The restaurant industry is a mirror of the city . The haves are being delighted in new dining rooms and glittering new high-rises . The have-nots are experiencing the trauma of a record number of evictions, especially in Brooklyn and The Bronx, and the squeeze of record-high rents . No one seems to have an answer for New York's housing crisis, where rental vacancies dropped to 1.4% in 2023 — a healthy rate is considered somewhere between 5% and 8%.

Nationwide, in the aggregate, restaurants are growing. Sales reached a seasonally-adjusted rate of $95.01 billion in January, up 0.7% from December and the 11th month of consecutive growth. But that doesn't mean the mood is great: 97% of restaurant owners are worried about higher food costs, according to a survey from the National Restaurant Association, and 38% say they didn't make money last year. That's a lot of have-nots. In a moment when food prices are volatile at best and workers are hard to come by, most of the restaurant industry has to make hard decisions. As Corey Mintz argued in this very publication, we may hate what it takes to save restaurants — more self-service, higher prices — but we may not have a choice. I don't care how many times the Nasdaq punches new highs — this does not make for good vibes.

The city's last Gilded Age was as much a time of growth and vitality as it was a time of corruption and inequality.

Restaurants are pinched, in part, because their patrons are pinched , too. Yes, the rest of the country is starting to see what New York City has been seeing: The worst is over. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index showed significant improvement over the past two months, and the outlook for inflation continues to improve. This is fantastic news for the country, but as analysts at UBS pointed out in a recent note to clients, just because we're not feeling bad doesn't mean we necessarily feel good.

"These are encouraging developments and sentiment should continue to improve as disinflation progresses, the Fed cuts rates and real incomes keep rising," the UBS analysts wrote. "In short, the vibecession for the public at large may be over, but the vibespansion has a long way to go."

Inflation hurts everyone, but it is catastrophic for people who are just getting by — or just starting to save a little bit. In an extremely cringeworthy interview, WK Kellogg CEO Gary Pilnick seemed excited when he said his company's cereal-for-dinner messaging was "landing really well."

"Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more on trend now, and we would expect to continue as that consumer is under pressure," he said. Since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460%, thanks mostly to stock-based compensation. When prices go up dramatically, those who can afford it may see it and know it, but they don't feel it. Those who can't, apparently, make Gary Pilnick's day.

If a pandemic can't defeat New York City, a little inflation certainly isn't going to do it. What it will do, though, is reveal the structural weaknesses in our society. The city's last Gilded Age was as much a time of growth and vitality as it was a time of corruption and inequality. It was a warning for this town and the whole country. Watching post-pandemic inflation at work is a warning, too. It showed what it looks like when this American economy experiences a short, sharp shock. And what that looks like is the affluent in New York City eating caviar, and poorer Americans eating cereal.

Linette Lopez  is a senior correspondent at Business Insider.

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Poland’s president may meet Donald Trump ‘socially’ in New York

Andrzej Duda’s visit comes as European leaders prepare for Trump’s possible return to White House

Andrzej Duda, Poland’s conservative president, is expected to meet Donald Trump in New York on Wednesday evening, as some European politicians begin preparing for Trump’s possible return to the White House.

Many mainstream European leaders fear the potential impact of a US that is less engaged on the continent, and less committed to the future of Ukraine.

The potential meeting comes after the far-right Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, visited Trump in March.

“I meet friends who served as president and with whom I managed Polish affairs in the international arena,” Duda said this week before his trip to the US. “If possible, I will also meet socially in New York [with Trump].”

Poland is a close US partner, and Duda and the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, met Joe Biden in the White House last month to discuss security cooperation and the situation in Ukraine.

A person close to Poland’s conservative Law and Justice party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Duda had chosen to meet Trump “because they used to have good cooperation when Trump was president, because he is one of two serious candidates, but most importantly because relations with the US are critically important for Poland”.

Tusk, a veteran centre-right politician who is well-known on the European stage, returned to power at the helm of a three-way coalition late last year, pledging to undo many of the policies of the previous national-conservative government, which counted Duda as an ally.

While Duda and Tusk clash frequently on domestic politics, their approach to security policy is similar.

“If he actually meets [with Trump], we would expect him to firmly raise the issue of clearly siding with the west and Europe in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict,” Tusk said on Tuesday.

The Polish government has been pleading for the US Congress to approve more assistance for Kyiv.

“Israel’s anti-missile capabilities should be strengthened and similar defences should be sent to Ukraine,” Radek Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister said on Sunday. “Speaker Johnson, please let the House vote on the Israel and Ukraine support bill.”

Tusk has repeatedly underlined the importance of the transatlantic relationship, while also arguing that Europe needs to bolster defence.

“The postwar epoch is gone. We are living in new times: in a prewar epoch,” he cautioned last month. “This is why Nato and solidarity between Europe and America are more important than ever before.”

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Experience new york city’s first ever thai festival.

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An inaugural Thai Fest will happen in Manhattan on April 20.

New York City is the location of a new food festival and it will be the first ever one centered on Thai cuisine.

The inaugural Thai Fest will take place on Saturday, April 20, on 6 th Avenue between 29 th and 30 th Streets in Manhattan. Its hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This food festival will deliver a taste of Thai food and drink by showcasing Thailand’s cultural flavors and traditions through 12 participating restaurants from throughout New York City.

Thai Fest, which is sponsored by the beverage brand, Chi Forest, was organized as a sister brand of the Dragon Fest . This NYC festival was founded in 2023 and celebrates Chinese culture through a schedule of events, tastings and market fairs.

Both events were started by Biubiu Xu, an entrepreneur and cultural advocate who also launched Egg House in 2018, an NYC pop-up immersion experience.

Twelve Thai restaurants throughout New York City will participate in Thai Fest.

“While hosting Dragon Fest, the team encountered various cuisines from countries with significant overseas Chinese populations, naturally including Thai cuisine,” said Xu. “Dragon Fest is an annual outdoor festival that celebrates Chinese food and culture in New York. Following its success, the team decided to expand our cultural festivals to include other Asian cultures, leading to the creation of Thai Fest.”

The 12 restaurants will set up booths and offer around 35 different food items. As admission to Thai Fest is free and open to the public, the cost for purchasing food and drinks will range between $8-$15 each.

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“What makes Thai cuisine unique in NYC is the presence of both authentic food from underrepresented restaurants and innovative, creative twists on traditional dishes from more well-known establishments,” said Xu. “This diversity is embraced and reflected at Thai Fest, where the festival highlights these culinary aspects through the participation of various NYC Thai restaurants.”

Traditional Thai food and drink will be sold at the inaugural Thai Fest.

The offers include Thai delicacies include some well-noted city establishments. The planned list extends to: Crab Fried Rice from Fish Cheeks in Manhattan; spicy Krapow from Mayree in Manhattan; savory Fried Meatballs from Sappe in Manhattan; rich Khao Soi from Soothr in Manhattan; and crispy Fried Chicken from Somtum Der in Manhattan.

Other choices will incorporate classic Pad Thai from Rua Thai in Brooklyn; sweet Mango Sticky Rice from Zabb PuTawn in Manhattan; flavorful Garlic Noodle from Obao in Manhattan; and tangy Tom Yum Ramen from 11Tigers in Manhattan.

“These restaurants were invited to join based on their reputation for quality and authenticity in Thai cuisine,” said Xu. “The active participation of these Thai restaurants can be attributed to their eagerness to engage in community events that provide an excellent platform for promoting Thai cuisine and culture.”

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Nyc exhibit reveals painful details of the nova music festival massacre.

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With piles of battered shoes, recovered cell phones replaying frantic messages to loved ones, and video installations capturing the confusion and terror of the day, the new downtown exhibit on the Oct. 7 Nova music festival massacre evokes equal parts 9/11 Memorial and Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum.

“The Nova Music Festival Exhibition: October 7th 06:29am – The Moment Music Stood Still,” kicks off a month-long run Sunday at an event space at 35 Wall St., with an installation that pays painstaking tribute to the 370 attendees killed by Hamas.   

Thousands of pieces of evidence — burnt out cars, bullet-pierced port-o-potties, half-drunk bottles of water, prayer books, yarmulkes, and even blood-soaked men’s shorts with a bullet hole through the crotch — were shipped from Israel and used to meticulously recreate scenes that reveal how peaceful moments were shattered when thousands of rockets rained down.

“We wanted to do something for people’s memories — where people can come and pay their respects, and we started the exhibition,” said Ofir Amir, the 41-year-old Nova co-founder who still walks with a cane after being shot in the legs on Oct. 7.

“This wasn’t a terror attack. This was something much bigger – it’s biblical,” he added. “We’re fighting for our survival every day .”

Exhibit creator, director and writer Reut Feingold said she wanted to give people the experience of the festival before Hamas invaded.

“It’s not an exhibition about Nova. It is Nova — we want them to feel — to feel the journey, the light in their hearts before” the attack, she said.

“On that day, random decisions meant the difference between life and death ,” read one sign on display.

The exhibit doesn’t shy away from the extremity of the violence that was unleashed on the music festival.

“In some cases, they set them on fire and burned them in such a way that when we examined them, we suddenly realized what had appeared to us as one person was actually three,” one rescue volunteer recalled in one of the exhibition’s many videos.

People with shell shocked expressions walk haltingly through the darkened, 50,000-square-foot space, which ends with a light-filled healing tent and lighthouse declaring the now-famous proclamation, “We will dance again.”

Tickets start at $1, with options to add donations to survivors.

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Ghost Kitchens Are Disappearing, Squeezed by Demand and Complaints

Delivery-only operations boomed during the pandemic. Now Wendy’s, Kroger and mom-and-pop food businesses are rethinking their operations.

By Julie Creswell

On a recent afternoon, the kitchen inside a Denny’s in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens was bustling.

Employees placed burger patties on a grill and pulled fries out of the vat of hot oil. Some orders were whisked away to customers sitting in booths, while others were boxed and set aside for pickup. The takeout orders were mostly from the Denny’s menu, but some were from the Burger Den and the Meltdown, two delivery-only brands that the chain owns.

The strategy of maximizing kitchen resources blossomed during the Covid pandemic, when restrictions shut down indoor dining and customers ate more meals at home. As their kitchens sat idle, many restaurants across the country, desperate for revenue, switched to delivery mode.

The result was an explosion in the growth of the so-called ghost kitchen and its close cousin, the virtual brand, or a restaurant that has no physical space and operates online only. Seemingly overnight, catering venues and restaurants alike turned into ghost kitchens, offering foods and meals for delivery only. At the same time, celebrities, influencers and others created their own virtual brands. Mariah Carey offered cookies, George Lopez put his name on tacos, and Wiz Khalifa’s menu included bowls of chicken nuggets over macaroni and cheese.

Investors plowed billions of dollars into the space, and start-ups and established companies made plans to expand. Some Kroger stores had ghost kitchens, and Wendy’s announced plans in 2021 to open 700 delivery-only locations. That year, the commercial real estate company CBRE predicted that ghost kitchens would account for 21 percent of restaurant sales by 2025.

But as the pandemic subsided and customers returned to dining inside restaurants, large chains found themselves squeezed by overtaxed kitchens and rising customer complaints, forcing them to reconsider their delivery-only strategy. Wendy’s has pulled back from its plans, and Kroger shut down its ghost kitchens last year.

“Consumers are going out to eat at restaurants again and craving that relationship with the brands themselves,” said Dorothy Calba, a senior research analyst for food service at Euromonitor International. “Virtual brands just did not have that connection with consumers.”

During the pandemic, Brinker International, which owns the Chili’s Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant chains, created two virtual brands: It’s Just Wings and Maggiano’s Italian Classics. Both were embraced by hungry Americans who were tired of cooking at home.

But as more diners sought to share mozzarella sticks in person, the company’s restaurants became overwhelmed with orders, making it difficult for its kitchens to juggle the brands. As a result, Brinker shut down Maggiano’s Italian Classics last year and has pared It’s Just Wings, instead putting some of the fan favorites on its restaurant menus.

“Everyone thought if you have the labor and the equipment, it would be easy to run virtual brands, but the reality is, most of the delivery times for virtual brands transact during busy times for the regular restaurant,” said Kevin Hochman, Brinker’s chief executive. “It was too much to have a busy dinner rush with an influx of virtual orders coming in, too.”

But an influx of orders during the dinner rush is not the only challenge restaurant chains face. Customers using delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash find themselves sometimes wondering where the food is being made as well as dealing with long wait times as drivers have to deliver multiple orders at a time. This leads to food quality issues. Uber Eats removed 8,000 “storefronts” from its listings last year over complaints of poor quality, inaccurate orders or duplication, meaning multiple, nearly identical restaurants were operating out of the same location.

“A lot of customers got burned at times during the pandemic receiving food that was not at the quality that they had hoped from these new virtual brands,” Ms. Calba said. “It created a pretty bad perception of a number of the virtual brands.”

Indeed, Jimmy Donaldson, known to his legions of followers on YouTube as MrBeast , was unhappy with the quality of his namesake burgers.

In 2020, Mr. Donaldson teamed up with a ghost kitchen concept operator, Virtual Dining Concepts, to put MrBeast Burgers in 1,700 locations around the country, including diners like Friendly’s and Italian chains like Buca di Beppo.

But last year, responding to what he claimed were “thousands” of customer complaints over the quality of the food, Mr. Donaldson sued Virtual Dining Concepts in New York Supreme Court to terminate the contract, saying the company was more focused on expanding its business than the quality of the product.

Virtual Dining Concepts countersued, accusing Mr. Donaldson and his investment company of breach of contract after making several public criticisms of the company and the food in a series of posts on social media. The lawsuits are active.

Executives at Virtual Dining Concepts say virtual brands do not deserve the bad rap that some received during the pandemic. They argue that the complaint rate for virtual brands is the same as that of traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants when it involves hot food being delivered.

“If we were having a burger in a restaurant, that would be one thing; now, put that burger in a box for 35 to 40 minutes for delivery,” said Robert Earl, the founder of Planet Hollywood and a founder of Virtual Dining Concepts. “We’re talking about heat and steam that’s going to deteriorate the experience of that burger. It’s not a perfect science, delivery.”

Virtual Dining Concepts has pared down some of the concepts that were created during the pandemic, but the company’s executives say there is growth in some of its virtual brands, like Pardon My Cheesesteak and Man vs Fries.

But restaurants say one of the lessons learned during the pandemic is to stick with what they know. Pizza restaurants should not start making burgers and vice versa, they say.

During the pandemic, Chuck E. Cheese created Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings, a virtual restaurant that was featured on delivery apps like GrubHub and DoorDash and offered more grown-up versions of the pizza served for children’s birthday parties in the restaurants.

“We were in the pizza business already, so we’re not serving something that’s foreign to our kitchens,” said David McKillips, the chief executive of Chuck E. Cheese. “It’s in our DNA.”

The delivery-only business has slowed as diners have headed back for stuffed-crust pizza and Skee-Ball, and some of the favorite Pasqually’s dishes are now on the Chuck E. Cheese menus, Mr. McKillips said.

And still some chains are embracing their virtual brands, continuing to operate and in some cases expanding their offerings.

“Most of our restaurants are open 24/7, so we have a unique opportunity with our capacity to handle customer orders at different times,” said Kelli Valade, the president and chief executive of Denny’s, which is testing a third virtual brand, Banda Burrito.

Moreover, most customers ordering from the Burger Den and the Meltdown are younger, in contrast to the typically older crowd that dines at Denny’s restaurants.

“If you’re getting a different consumer to eat your burgers, why not lean in?” Ms. Valade said.

Julie Creswell is a business reporter covering the food industry for The TImes, writing about all aspects of food, including farming, food inflation, supply-chain disruptions and climate change. More about Julie Creswell

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