Restaurateur Andrew Tarlow Is Leaving Reynard and Wythe Hotel

Influential Brooklyn restaurateur Andrew Tarlow is leaving Reynard and the Wythe Hotel.

The Brooklyn trailblazer helped open the restaurant in the Wythe in 2012; now remaining business partners Jed Walentas and Peter Lawrence will take over his slice of ownership following his departure this week. All parties say it was a mutual agreement.

The restaurateur says the departure is to focus on his other restaurants and businesses, namely an event space called the Castle he recently opened in Red Hook. Chef Christina Lecki, who received a three-star review for her cooking last year, will stay on board.

Reynard debuted in 2012 soon after the hotel landed on the Williamsburg waterfront, bringing with it a wood-fired oven and grill and all-day American fare. It garnered long wait times from the start and settled into being a neighborhood restaurant known for its brunch. Lecki, who previously spent years in April Bloomfield’s Michelin-starred kitchen at the Breslin, was tapped as head chef in 2017, and the food rose to the spotlight.

Tarlow — who is credited with being a big player in shaping Brooklyn’s restaurant scene and its quintessential seasonal ethos and rustic aesthetic — will now turn his attention to “other upcoming projects and creative pursuits,” he writes in an email sent to hotel staff Friday afternoon. He recently spent time reshuffling his restaurant empire, appointing a new chefs at Diner, Marlow & Sons, Roman’s, and Achilles Heel over the past year. The changes came with new menus, too.

His imminent departure from the hotel and restaurant may sprout changes for the Wythe as well, which will be sharing “plans for the future very soon,” co-owner Lawrence says. “We could not have accomplished any of this without Andrew’s partnership,” he says in a statement wishing Tarlow success on his next ventures.

Tarlow’s full farewell email is below:

Friends,

This is bittersweet news to share, but I will be moving on from Wythe Hotel and Reynard this week. It has been an honor and a true gift to be part of such an incredible experience, and I wish my partners, Peter & Jed, all the best in their next chapter with the hotel.

I want to thank everyone for all that we have created together. I am so proud of everything we have accomplished. I do this work to work with people like you and it would be impossible to highlight all the amazing experiences we have created together over the last six years, but please know that I have seen it, and been moved by it, and am endlessly grateful for all of it and for all of you.

This decision, while not an easy one to make, will allow me the opportunity to focus on the other restaurants and businesses within the Marlow Collective – including our new venue in Red Hook, The Castle, and other upcoming projects and creative pursuits.

Please come say hello for a meal or a drink soon.

Thank you,

AT