Chef of Michelin-Starred Nix Adds Another Midtown Restaurant to His Growing Empire

John Fraser racks up another restaurant deal

Restaurateur and chef John Fraser — the man behind Michelin-starred Nix, the Loyal, and 701West — is growing his empire even more. The office building at 1740 Broadway at West 55th Street in Midtown has hired Fraser for a new ground-floor restaurant for the property, plus a private cafe and catering option only available to tenants of the building. It’s reportedly a way for landlord EQ Office to make the tower more appealing to potential office tenants, who will eventually be able to use Fraser’s food for dinners and events.

The corner restaurant, though, will be open to the public. No word yet on what kind of food it will be, but Fraser has been on a roll. This year, he’s partnered with the Met, and his luxe new restaurant inside famed hotelier Ian Schrager’s Edition Times Square landed three whopping stars in the Times for “playful, imaginative” fare.

In other news

— Nomad pan-Asian restaurant Hortus NYC has a new chef, according to a spokesperson: Youjin Jung, who previously worked as sous chef at Boulud Soud and spent time at Del Posto. She’s adding dishes such as sea urchin noodles, scallop mousse ravioli with truffle, and grilled sea bass with miso eggplant, sautéed radish, onion, and crown daisy.

— Bodega and newly anointed cool-kid clothing purveyor Gem Spa has added a hat to its merch lineup.

— Delivery platform Grubhub/Seamless is still scrambling to allay bad press surrounding its relationship with restaurants, which have been complaining about fees and practices that they call unfair. On Tuesday, the company is hosting its first restaurant round table in New York for owners to voice their issues.

— West Village piano bar Marie’s Crisis is apparently getting lots of attention on TV these days — The Politician, Younger, Katy Keene — though not always accurately. Vulture writer Jackson McHenry kindly reminds us that the bar is for show tunes and show tunes only.

— If you need a kale take: