Chef Behind Shuttered Michelin Star Restaurant Returns Tonight With Charc

Danny Brown — the chef behind the first restaurant in Queens to receive a Michelin star — will finally be back in a restaurant starting tonight, this time on the Upper East Side.

After nearly two years out of commission, Brown opens his new wine bar and restaurant Charc for dinner Wednesday night at 316 East 84th Street, between First and Second avenues. As the name suggests, the restaurant specializes in charcuterie. Brown sources meats from an Indiana purveyor called Smoking Goose and makes other items like duck rilletes in-house. Besides meats and cheeses, Charc has fancy sandwiches like one with wagyu roast beef and a grilled cheese with serrano ham that can be truffled up for an additional $20. Plated dishes include tuna crudo and a rigatoni with ‘nduja and broccoli rabe. See the full menu below.

The restaurant is tiny, with 550-square-feet and seats for 25 people.

Photo by Emily Frances via Charc

Brown made his name at Danny Brown Wine Bar, an American restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens with French and Spanish influences. In 2011, it was the first restaurant in Queens to be awarded a Michelin star, though it lost it shortly before it closed. The chef had to leave the space at the end of 2015 after the landlord declined to renew the lease. When it closed, he talked about opening elsewhere in Queens but ultimately ended up in this location in Manhattan.

Charc will be open Monday through Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. It is closed on Sundays.