Although some people scratched their heads when Danny Meyer announced plans to open three restaurants in Battery Park City, it turns out that all of them are doing great. In a Times profile of the restaurant and retail area near the Goldman Sachs building known as "Goldman Alley," Meyer says that at Blue Smoke, “you have to literally chisel people off the wall" after 5 p.m. Meanwhile, at North End Grill, he finds that bankers like to enjoy "a cocktail to contemplate."
After Meyer agreed to open new projects in BPC, he called up some of his industry friends to see if they would help him populate the area with restaurants, but they all said no. In the last year or so, Goldman Alley has seen openings like Harry's Italian, Vintry Fine Wines, and Francois Payard Bakery, but not all of them are experiencing the same level of success as Meyer's restaurants. Francois Payard tells the Times that he had to cut his staff by 30 percent recently, and he also says that the Goldman team didn't want him to put out an awning to attract more customers. He notes: "But I can’t say bad things...because they will kill me.”
· It’s a Goldman World [NYT]
[Krieger]