For more than a year, two of the best-placed dining rooms near Lincoln Center sat dark. In July 2025, Daniel Boulud closed Bar Boulud, Boulud Sud, and Épicerie Boulud at 1900 Broadway. That same year Rosa Mexicano left the corner of Columbus Avenue and West 62nd Street. Both spaces reopened this month, eleven days apart. Each came back as one larger room built for a full house before an 8 p.m. curtain. The newer, smaller places have opened along Columbus Avenue and the West 70s, a few blocks from the plaza.
That changes how the evening works. The big rooms sit right across from the theaters. For something smaller and quicker, the walk is longer.
Three Boulud rooms became one
Brasserie Boulud opened on Thursday, October 8, at 1900 Broadway, at Lincoln Plaza. Eater NY reported that the opening landed during the New York Film Festival and that reservations went live on Resy already booked well into October. Earlier reports had given a September date. The October 8 opening is the one that happened.
The building itself is the news here. Boulud used to run three separate businesses at this address: a wine bar, a Mediterranean restaurant, and a takeout counter. Now one restaurant fills all of it, more than 10,000 square feet over two floors, designed by David Rockwell's Rockwell Group. A spokesperson described the plan to West Side Rag:
"It will feature a light and airy main dining room with an impressively large central bar, but also an intimate speakeasy and elegant private dining rooms."
The speakeasy is called Bar Viv, and the restaurant's site says space there is limited. Eater describes it as a hidden room serving cocktails late into the night.
The menu brings back favorites from all three old spots: seafood towers, steak frites, boudin blanc, pâtés from the charcuterie house Maison Vérot, and the DB Burger that Boulud fans have long followed. The restaurant's published dinner menu currently lists these prices:
- French onion soup, $21
- Lobster soufflé, $35
- Brasserie Boulud Burger, $29
Dinner is listed Tuesday through Sunday, 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. For anyone timing a meal around a performance, the more useful news is that pre- and post-theater menus are coming back. Mornings bring coffee and croissants to eat in or take out, which continues what Épicerie Boulud used to do at this address. The express menus' prices and the morning hours haven't been posted yet, so check with the restaurant before planning a 6 p.m. dinner around them.
The Rosa Mexicano corner now seats more than 250
On the other side of the plaza, La Pecora Bianca Lincoln Square has taken over the old Rosa Mexicano space at 61 Columbus Avenue. Founder and CEO Mark Barak confirmed an October 19 opening to West Side Rag. It is the chain's largest location: two floors, 8,000 square feet indoors, seating for more than 250, and outdoor tables planned for spring.
Upper West Siders who know the 77th Street location will see familiar dishes like rigatoni vodka, whipped ricotta toast, and chicken parmesan. Some dishes are served only at Lincoln Square:
- Mafaldine with roasted butternut squash, brown butter, and crispy sage
- Trecce with braised short rib ragù
- Local burrata with stone fruit agrodolce
- An autumn pizza with delicata squash, speck, ricotta, fontina, and sage
The schedule matters for anyone heading to a performance. According to the restaurant's site, La Pecora Bianca serves from 11:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, until 11 p.m., and until midnight on Friday. On Saturday it opens at 4 p.m. and stays open until midnight, and on Sunday it serves from 4 to 10 p.m. Brasserie Boulud's posted dinner schedule skips Monday, and La Pecora Bianca serves lunch from Monday through Friday. Between them, nearly every curtain time this week has a large room within a block of the plaza.
The smaller places are a short walk north
The two big rooms took the corners facing Lincoln Center. Most of the other new food openings since August are along Columbus Avenue and in the West 70s, a five- to ten-minute walk from the fountain.
Lucia Pizza opened October 5 at 159 Columbus Avenue. It is co-owned by founder Sal Carlino and Dylan Schwartz, and it's the quickest option on this list for a slice before a show.
West 70th Street now has two new restaurants that are each worth a dinner without a performance:
- CHIKARA, 150 West 70th Street, an upscale Japanese restaurant from co-owners Yumi Matsumura and chef Atsutaka Chikaraishi, opened August 6.
- Wu's Dynasty, 208 West 70th Street, serves traditional Cantonese dim sum and seafood. Owner Derek Wu previously ran Wu's Wonton King, according to West Side Rag.
Two blocks north, Kine Musubi soft-opened September 24 at 128 West 72nd Street. It serves Hawaiian musubi, rice topped with Spam or other savory fillings and wrapped in seaweed. Co-founder Chi Ian Chan grew up in Hawaii. He previously ran a pop-up inside Sushi Nonaka, West Side Rag reported. At the time, hours were still being set while staff trained, so check before you go.
What's on stage between now and New Year's Eve
The new rooms opened just as the fall performance calendar fills up. Here is how the coming weeks look on the official Lincoln Center calendars.
This week
- The New York Philharmonic performs Get Out in Concert, with the score played live to the film, through October 31 at Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall.
- The Metropolitan Opera's Medea opens October 30 and runs through November 21.
Early November
- On November 1 at 6 p.m., the David Rubenstein Atrium hosts a free Día de Muertos celebration with Guachinangos and a community ofrenda.
- Tosca returns to the Met, with fall performances November 1 through 20.
- Lincoln in the Bardo has remaining performances November 3, 7, 11, and 14.
- Voices of a People's History, also free at the Atrium, is on November 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Late November
- Jenůfa runs at the Met from November 16 to December 4.
- On November 27, New York City Ballet's George Balanchine's The Nutcracker begins at 8 p.m. at the David H. Koch Theater, and Samson et Dalila opens at the Met the same day, running through December 23.
- La Bohème has performances November 24 and 28, then December 3, 5, and 10.
December
- Maria Stuarda runs December 6 through 22.
- The Met's holiday Magic Flute plays from December 11, with December performances through the 30th.
- La Fanciulla del West opens on New Year's Eve.
The Friday after Thanksgiving will probably be the busiest night of the season around the plaza, with The Nutcracker and Samson et Dalila both opening. Brasserie Boulud's reservations filled weeks out when booking opened, so it makes sense to reserve for that evening early.
The next openings are also on the side streets
The pattern continues with what's on the way. Most announced openings are on the streets north and west of the plaza, and the most anticipated is a revival.
Café des Artistes plans to reopen at 1 West 67th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, in early 2027. It closed in 2009. The new owners have promised a return "to its original glamour" and are asking former diners, staff, and neighbors to send memories to [email protected], West Side Rag reported.
Several leases are signed along Columbus. None of these places has an opening date yet:
- Edith's Sandwich Counter, founded by Elyssa Heller, at 186 Columbus Avenue between West 68th and 69th Streets, the former Francesco's Pizza space
- Mimi's, an Australian frozen yogurt shop, at 221 Columbus Avenue at West 70th Street
West of Broadway, a Dunkin' sign has gone up at 33 West End Avenue at West 61st Street.
The arrangement looks settled for now. Two large rooms face the theaters, and smaller counters and specialty kitchens fill the blocks toward 72nd Street. If Café des Artistes opens on schedule, a third larger room will join them on West 67th Street.
Before a performance, I usually look at the room as closely as the menu: the ceiling height, the light from the windows, how the space feels when it's full. Brasserie Boulud, built inside three former restaurants, and the Café des Artistes revival will both be interesting rooms to watch over the next year. If you live near Lincoln Center and want to talk about how these new spaces are changing the blocks around your building, Victoria Rong Kennedy is glad to talk it through in English or Mandarin. Let's Connect.
