Frenchette Team to Replace Brasserie Ruhlman at Rockefeller Plaza
By Chava Gourarie December 9, 2019 10:09 am
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The team behind the popular modern French bistro Frenchette will open a new 18,000-square-foot restaurant at the Rockefeller Plaza, replacing the decades-old Brasserie Ruhlmann.
The untitled restaurant at 45 Rockefeller Center, from chefs Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, will remain within the classic French brasserie style they’re known for, according to a press release from landlord Tishman Speyer.
“The grand scale of this historic plaza like that of Paris and other European capitals is the perfect setting for the energetic, bouillon and brasserie style restaurants we like to sample from,” the chefs said in a prepared statement.
The restaurant is part of a makeover at Rockefeller Center, where the food offerings are shifting from legacy staples to more modern, fast-casual offerings. Along with Ruhlmann, Sea Grill, Rock Center Cafe, and Cucina & Co are all closing in early 2020, according to Eater, while millennial brands like Fuku, Milk Bar, Van Leeuwen, By Chloe, and Sweetgreen have recently moved in.
This will be Nasr and Hanson’s third New York City restaurant. They opened the widely acclaimed Frenchette in 2018, and after its success, bought the Upper East Side French restaurant Le Veau d’Or, in July, with plans to renovate and modernize it, per Eater.
The Rockefeller Plaza restaurant is scheduled to open in spring 2021.
