# ID this NYC restaurant **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369 "2013-01-07T17:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/1 "2013-01-07T17:48:04Z")
I am trying to find a restaurant in Manhattan, and all of my searches including step by step using Google Street View have failed. I ate there more than ten years ago, and on a recent visit walked right by it and failed to make adequate note of where it was located. Here’s everything I know: [ul] [li]Midtown, around the 30s.[/li][li]Pretty sure it’s on one of the avenues - Park, 5th, Madison.[/li][li]Is fronted along its whole length by tall wooden shutters that can be opened to the interior of the place.[/li][li]Is a grill/tavern kind of place.[/li][li]Had fantastic french onion soup and Trappist ale on tap.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/2 "2013-01-07T18:25:14Z")
Hmmm…it sounds like it cound be: 30 Park The Shuttered Grille or French Onion Tavern ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/3 "2013-01-07T18:34:25Z")
Smith and Wollensky’s Steakhouse, on 49th and 3rd?? You can look up a photo of it via Google… All I got. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/4 "2013-01-07T18:36:49Z")
[Artisanal](https://plus.google.com/photos/at/113455233772516927930)? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/5 "2013-01-07T18:39:26Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Hmmm…it sounds like it cound be: > 30 Park > The Shuttered Grille > or French Onion Tavern Not Gullible’s Travels? WordMan, I’m pretty sure it’s not on 3rd, as I’ve rarely wandered that vertical. (Looks at street view) Nope. I’m pretty sure it’s not a chain, either. Damn, this bugs me. It’s like Brigadoon. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/6 "2013-01-07T18:42:57Z")
> [@Dr.Righteous](#): > > [Artisanal](https://plus.google.com/photos/at/113455233772516927930)? Hmm. Maybe. Right location; when we passed it recently, it was on a walk from Angelo & Maxie’s to GCT and that’s on the path. I don’t recall the big red awnings, though; I’m reasonably sure the front is a long wall of wooden shutters, right on the sidewalk. (A&M’s… never again. Wow, did they go downhill.) ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/7 "2013-01-07T18:53:41Z")
Are you sure it was on an avenue and not a cross street? How big was the front? I was thinking the Playwright Tavern. 35th between 5th and 6th. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/8 "2013-01-07T19:03:28Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Are you sure it was on an avenue and not a cross street? How big was the front? I was thinking the Playwright Tavern. 35th between 5th and 6th. Close, and I recognize that place. But I’m about 50% sure it was on an avenue and very sure it’s most distinctive feature is a long, long front of wooden shutters - at least 50 or 60 feet. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/9 "2013-01-08T06:16:53Z")
[L’Express?](http://www.lexpressnyc.com/home.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/10 "2013-01-08T06:45:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Dr. Righteous > Artisanal? > [@NitroPress](#): > > Hmm. Maybe. Right location; when we passed it recently, it was on a walk from Angelo & Maxie’s to GCT and that’s on the path. I don’t recall the big red awnings, though; I’m reasonably sure the front is a long wall of wooden shutters, right on the sidewalk. [Here’s a different view.](http://www.glenwoodnyc.com/manhattan-living/wp-content/uploads/resource/ba-artisanal-tribeca.jpg) I think it’s got to be Artisanal. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/11 "2013-01-08T14:38:52Z")
> [@camille](#): > > [Here’s a different view.](http://www.glenwoodnyc.com/manhattan-living/wp-content/uploads/resource/ba-artisanal-tribeca.jpg) I think it’s got to be Artisanal. Maybe. It looks right in a number of ways but on checking, it opened in March 2001, which I am pretty sure is six months to a year after my fondly remembered visit. It may be that the restaurant I am thinking of no longer exists and Artisanal is close enough in style to confuse me. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/12 "2013-01-08T14:47:25Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > [L’Express?](http://www.lexpressnyc.com/home.aspx) \*Ding ding ding ding ding! \*We have a winner! Thank you and may the FSM keep the SDMB cradled in his noodly appendages. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/13 "2013-01-08T15:00:00Z")
Ah - sure. Been there for a while. Good bistro type fare. Glad you found out which one it was… ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/14 "2013-01-08T18:06:49Z")
In my defense, L’Express is 10 blocks south of the search criteria I used from the OP. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-nyc-restaurant/646369/15 "2013-01-08T20:15:02Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > In my defense, L’Express is 10 blocks south of the search criteria I used from the OP. 😃 In all our defennse, L’Express doesn’t meat ANY of the OP’s criteria! “Gramercy” is NOT “Midtown, around the 30s.” (and technically it might be Midtown, but no one refers to anything below the high 30s as such) Those are “casement doors”, not “shutters”. A “bistro” is not a “grill/tavern kind of place”. The reviews on the french onion soup seem mixed. At least you got this stretch of avenues correct! 😃