Gotham Bar and Grill

The restaurant was opened by Jerry Kretchmer, Jeff Bliss, Rick and Robert Rathe and featured the American chef Alfred Portale. Portale was influenced by the New American cuisine movement from California in the 1980s and 1990s, notably from Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower of Chez Panisse. In 2019 Portale left Gotham to found his eponymous restaurant on 18th Street. Victoria Blamey took over the kitchen, and the restaurant was awarded 3 Stars for her inventive cuisine. Chef Ron Paprocki reopened Gotham as Executive Chef in November of 2021 with a renovated dining room and a new menu. Paprocki was formerly the restaurants Pastry Chef.[1][7] Paprocki is now the restaurant's third chef after the arrival of Chef Portale in 1985.[8]

After Gotham's closing in March 2020, TimeOut wrote about the restaurant that "it consistently garnered rave reviews, but it was a perhaps a confluence of factors—the trend toward more casual dining, a shift in ownership and the current crisis—that led to the restaurant’s demise."[6]

The menu consists of seasonal-inspired selections such as Elyssian Fields-roasted loin of lamb, Niman Ranch 40 Day Dry Aged Strip Steak, Roasted Celeriac with Vegan Bordelaise and Black Truffles, and Handmade Cavatelli. The modern American menu changes seasonally.[9][10][11][12][13]

The modern, expansive restaurant was chic, located in the multi-level loft space of a former warehouse, with high soaring ceilings, tall floor-to-ceiling windows, and pieces of parachute cloth billowing around its chandeliers.[7][8][14][12][13][15] The restaurant's art collection had its own curator.[15] The restaurant served over 400 diners daily as of 2009.[16]

In 1993, restaurant critic Gael Greene wrote that it was her favorite restaurant.[17] Bryan Miller of The New York Times gave it three stars in 1985, Molly O’Neill of the Times gave it three stars in 1993, Ruth Reichl of the Times gave it three stars in 1996, and Sam Sifton of the Times awarded it three stars in 2011.[18][19]

In 2013, Zagats gave it a food rating of 28, the second-highest food rating in Greenwich Village.[3]

• List of New American restaurants

• www.gothambarandgrill.com
• Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures: Home Cooking from the Gotham Bar and Grill's Acclaimed Chef, Alfred Portale, Andrew Friedman, HarperCollins {2004}
• Alfred Portale's Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook, Alfred Portale, Random House (1997)