Go on, keep teasing me, why doncha.
Gallaghers steakhouse and Tavern on the Green, two of my old restaurant flames, said they’d reopen this week. Neither will, each citing a “slight” hiccup but promising they’ll really, truly, return in just a few days more. Of course, Gallaghers had said it would reopen in December 2013, while Tavern’s relaunch has been promised forever.
Advice columns for singles warn that ex-sex, delicious-seeming beforehand, will leave you miserable. But this happily married gourmand turns to jelly when it comes to restaurants I let into my heart despite advice to the contrary from my brain and palate. I’m hot to give them a second whirl.
This Valentine’s Day month is charged with a rare trio of romantic revivals. The River Cafe, near-wrecked by Hurricane Sandy, reopened on Feb. 1. But while I rarely got to Buzzy O’Keeffe’s beloved Brooklyn institution, Gallaghers and Tavern on the Green, each now under new ownership, became landmarks in my life the first time I set foot in them.
I want to embrace both. Old Gallagher’s — owner Dean Poll has dropped the apostrophe in the name (except on the neon sign outside) — still beautiful in its 1927 speakeasy bones and skin, served dishes left over from the Eisenhower administration. Tavern, ugly and faded down to its last chandelier, had worse food and execrable service. Yet both were part of my New York. Their shutdowns — Tavern’s at the end of 2009, Gallagher’s just over a year ago — shrunk my private city just a little bit.
Adding to the illicit anticipation of their near-simultaneous reopenings is the charged history between the two. Gallaghers operator Poll was tapped by the city three years ago to relaunch Tavern until a union dispute killed the deal, which paved the way for Tavern’s new operators Jim Caiola and David Salama. But neither side would likely own up to wanting to show the other a thing or two — they’re too busy trying to get the gas turned on and have city licenses approved.
Gallaghers has been brightened, modernized and partly reconfigured by Poll, who rescued the house from certain death. The famous meat locker behind the door and evocative, horseshoe-shaped bar remain. So do the hundreds of (now nicely framed) vintage photos of athletes, politicians, showgirls and racehorses that lent the rooms their mystique.
But old wood and upholstery has given way to new wood and upholstery that only look old. White tablecloths are replacing checkerboard ones. The back-room open kitchen is now enclosed in steel-mullioned glass. A long, beveled mirror has replaced a discordant color mural.
The result is a familiar stranger: It is and is not Gallagher’s, redolent enough of the past to invite the wary thrill of revisiting an old paramour.
The original Gallagher’s had seen better times. Its 240 seats (now 200) were too many. Its menu, dominated by unadorned USDA-prime steak, fell out of favor among those who crave leaner, grass-fed, “artisanal” and exotic cuts of beef. (The hipped-up new menu includes items like hamachi crudo along with the old classics).
The old crowd consisted of Jackie Mason and the suburbs. But Gallagher’s seized my New York-obsessed imagination back in the 1980s and never let go. Its air of permanence lent more comfort than chopped sirloin steak or soggy beer-batter shrimp. I spent several Christmas Eves there marveling at the sight of a Prohibition-era bookmaker, then in his 90s, perched on a bar stool like a merry ghost.
Tavern on the Green in its last years was harder to like on any level. Yet it was magnetic in the 1970s well into the ’90s when people still feared going into Central Park. Early on, Warner LeRoy’s over-the-top Crystal Room drew locals as well as tourists, and, for a time, there was remarkably fine American food by the late chef Patrick Clark.
The waiters were rude. Managers made cash on the side selling tables. But friends’ weddings, jazz in the Chestnut Room, New York Film Festival opening parties and summer nights in the courtyard with its Tivoli Garden lights washed down memories of concrete chicken and watery drinks.
The Crystal Room is gone and Tavern’s 800 seats have been reduced to 600 indoors and out. Caiola and Salama have kept the new interior under wraps. But it’s gorgeous outside, thanks to a radiant restoration of the 1850s “sheepfold” buildings. They hired a fine chef, Katy Sparks, with a proven track record in seasonally and market-driven modern-American cuisine.
Now, all they and Poll need is to get their damn places open. And we’ll see soon enough if love can thrill a second time around.