Union Square Cafe Springs Back to Life Tonight in Its Brand New Home

The highly-anticipated new iteration of Union Square Cafe will serve its first public dinners tonight. Hospitality titan Danny Meyer’s first — and highly influential — restaurant closed the doors on its original location about a year ago, after 30 years in the neighborhood. Now, it’s located a few blocks north at 101 East 19th St., at Park Avenue, with additions like more private dining space and a cocktail lounge. The team’s said it’s not a clone of the Union Square Cafe people loved for decades, but it’s also not intended to be. "We scrutinized everything we’ve done," Sam Lipp, director of operations, previously told Eater. "Can we do this better?"

Here's a short video from Danny Meyer's Instagram of the paper coming off the windows this morning:

#open for business #unionsquarecafe. We've missed you and can't wait to share our new home! #welcomehome

A video posted by Danny Meyer (@dhmeyer) on Dec 8, 2016 at 8:11am PST

For the menu, chef Carmen Quagliata brought back favorites like a ricotta gnocchi and a bibb and red oak leaf salad with gruyere, though he made tweaks in some of them. Pastas like a spaghettini with Christmas Eve calamari ragu, and a pappardelle with duck confit, Brussels sprouts, and honeynut squash are on the opening menu. The entree portion includes a burger, spiced chicken with white sweet potato, and pork tenderloin with sausage.

Dinner blasts off tonight, and lunch starts on Monday.  Early next year, the restaurant's next-door all-day bakery/cafe counterpart, Daily Provisions, will make its debut. See more photos of the Union Square Cafe space here, scope out the lunch, dinner, and dessert menus below, and if you happen to stop by this evening, please let us know what you think.

Dinner:

USC-Dinner 12.7.16 by Eater NY on Scribd

Lunch:

USC-Lunch 12.8.16 by Eater NY on Scribd

Dessert:

USC-Dessert 12.8.16 by Eater NY on Scribd