Daniel Boulud’s eponymous, Michelin-starred cafe is plotting a triumphant return to the Upper East Side.
Cafe Boulud was well known as one of the crown jewels of Chef Daniel Boulud’s widely celebrated restaurant portfolio. Fusing the finesse of traditional French cuisine with the warm hospitality of a neighborhood cafe, Cafe Boulud launched inside the Surrey Hotel at 20 East 76th Street in 1998. Named for the cafe that Boulud’s family operated outside Lyon at the turn of the century, Cafe Boulud quickly developed a prestigious reputation, earning a highly coveted Michelin star and a raving Zagat review that dubbed the cafe a “neighborhood bistro for billionaires.”
The original Cafe Boulud sadly shut down in May 2021 though, when the Surrey Hotel went into bankruptcy and was acquired by Britain’s Reuben Brothers, who are currently slated to transform the original Cafe Boulud space into a new outpost for a private club called Casa Tua. Now though, Boulud’s Dinex Group has just announced that they have secured a 5,000 square foot space at 100 East 63rd Street, where they plan to bring back Boulud’s celebrated cafe concept. The space at 100 East 63rd was formerly home to Vaucluse, a sophisticated Park Avenue French restaurant from chef Michael White that sadly closed during the 2020 pandemic.
Thankfully, the space will not remain vacant much longer, as Boulud’s Dinex Group has been steadily expanding their portfolio all year. The news of Cafe Boulud’s revival comes hot on the heels of their recently-revealed plans for One Madison Square. What Now New York covered that story in December and discovered that Chef Boulud and Dinex Group would be opening a new upscale steakhouse and French marketplace for the new high-rise tower at 23 East 22nd Street.
At the moment, Dinex Group currently operates three other Cafe Bouluds across the world, in Palm Beach, Toronto, and the Bahamas. In New York alone there are currently 11 Boulud restaurants, including his eponymous restaurant Daniel, which currently holds a staggering two Michelin stars. His latest restaurant to open to the public, the seafood-focused Le Pavillion, launched in Midtown in 2021 to immediate critical acclaim and is currently taking reservations. According to the New York Post, Boulud hopes to have his new cafe operational sometime this Fall. In the meantime, you can follow Chef Boulud on Instagram to stay up to date with all of his latest endeavors.
