Commerce Chef Harold Moore to Open NYC's First Meat and Three in the Tommie Hotel

Burger master and Commerce owner Harold Moore is planning to unleash the first meat and three concept on NYC this fall with a restaurant called Harold’s Meat + 3 in the upcoming Tommie Hotel in Hudson Square. For the uninitiated, a meat and three is exactly what it sounds like: a cafeteria-style restaurant where a variety of meats can be ordered alongside the diner's choice of three sides. It's a model that originated in the South, and can be found in its most classic form at places like the Nashville classic, Arnold's Country Kitchen.

Here, Moore plans to offer proteins in a tiered system: $19 will cover spicy fried chicken or roast beef, $29 will buy skirt steak, branzino, or pork butt, and at the top of the pyramid are ribeye and lobster at $39 apiece. No word on the sides, but access to a salad bar is $10 extra, or $19 on its own. Moore tells Eater that his version will be "an upscale ‘cafeteria' but with waiter service. Not so much Southern as New York-influenced food."

Moore credits meat man Josh Ozersky with the idea for this restaurant, but he isn't the first chef to talk about opening a meat and three in New York. Last fall, David Chang described Arnold's Country Kitchen as "sort of my dream restaurant," and even teased that he had been "emboldened me to try and open up a hot shoppe / buffet / meat +3 / cafeteria kind of place here in NYC." Chang is pretty busy these days developing his fried chicken concept Fuku and expanding his sauce empire, but this could still be in the works.

But meat and three isn't all that Moore has up his sleeve. Even before he opens Harold's Meat + 3, he'll debut a Commerce spin-off called Commerce Sweet Shop on Bedford Street. It will specialize in just two Southern staples, cake and fried chicken, and is slated to open by June or July.