Union Square Cafe is an American restaurant featuring

New American cuisine New American cuisine, also known as Modern American cuisine or Contemporary American cuisine, is the wave of modernized Cuisine of the United States, cooking predominantly served at upscale fine dining restaurants in the United States, originat ...

with

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

influences, located at 101 E 19th St (between

Park Avenue South Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

and

Irving Place Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along its ...

), in the

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

neighborhood of the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

borough of New York City, New York. It is owned by the

Union Square Hospitality Group Daniel Meyer (born March 14, 1958) is a New York City restaurateur and the Founder & Executive Chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). Background and early career Meyer was born and raised in a reform Jewish family in St. Louis, ...

History

In October 1985,

Danny Meyer Daniel Meyer (born March 14, 1958) is a New York City restaurateur and the Founder & Executive Chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). Background and early career Meyer was born and raised in a reform Jewish family in St. Louis, M ...

opened ''Union Square Cafe'' with chef Ali Barker. In December 2015, The restaurant's lease at 21 E 16th Street ended. In December 2016, ''Union Square Cafe'' reopened at ''Hotel on Rivington'', 101 East 19th Street.

Design

The original restaurant was designed by architect

Larry Bogdanow Larry Bogdanow (February 24, 1947 – June 29, 2011) was an American restaurant architect. Early life and education Born in Houston, Texas, Bogdanow graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1970. He moved to New York ...

. The new location is designed by architect

David Rockwell David Rockwell (born July 25, 1956) is an American architect and designer. He is the founder and president of Rockwell Group, a 250-person cross-disciplinary architecture and design practice based in New York City with satellite offices in Madrid ...

Awards and accolades

The restaurant has won multiple awards and honors since its inception, including the ranking of "Favorite New York Restaurant" in the ''

Zagat Survey The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering ...

'' in the 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2008 editions. Notably, the restaurant did not receive a

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

star during Michelin's 2005 review of New York restaurants, leading to concerns that the guide might be biased towards

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

or restaurants that "emphasize formality and presentation". * 1992, Outstanding Service,

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

* 1997, Outstanding Restaurant, James Beard Foundation * 1997–2001, Zagat Survey #1 Favorite New York Restaurant * 1998–1999, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' Three Star Award * 1999, Outstanding Wine Service, James Beard Foundation * 2000, Michael Romano inducted into "Who's Who of Food & Beverage", James Beard Foundation * 2000–2002, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine Three Star Review * 2001, James Beard Foundation Best Chef New York City – Michael Romano * 2003, Zagat Survey #2 Favorite New York Restaurant * 2004, ''

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertain ...

'' Award of Excellence * 2004, Zagat Survey #1 Favorite New York Restaurant * 2005, ''Forbes'' magazine Three Star Review * 2005–2007, Zagat Survey #2 Favorite New York Restaurant * 2006-2010, ''

'' Best of Award of Excellence * 2008, Zagat Survey #1 Favorite New York Restaurant * 2012-2013, ''

'' Best of Award of Excellence

In popular culture

The 2016 novel '' Sweetbitter'' features a protagonist who works as a waitress in a fictionalized version of the restaurant; '' Vanity Fair'' referred to the novel as a "love letter" to Union Square Cafe.

References

External links