Hudson Yards Equinox Hotel Lands Le Coucou Restaurateur Stephen Starr

The sprawling Hudson Yards development has added another high profile player to its dining roster: Stephen Starr — the James Beard-award winning restaurateur behind Le Coucou and Upland — will be running the restaurant and bar operation in the Equinox Hotel, the first hotel from the gym brand.

No details yet on what kind of food it will be, but Equinox did recently publish this extremely abstract video from fashion photographer Nick Knight where Naomi Campbell lustily eats a cherry. As is standard for hotel restaurants, it will be an all-day affair. According to Equinox Hotels, seasonality will be a focus, and drinks will be “designed around health-building elixirs.”

The hotel, which has a June 2019 debut date, will be at 35 Hudson Yards along 11th Avenue. Besides the Starr restaurant and bar, it will have a spa, a SoulCycle, a lounge, and the biggest Equinox gym in existence, including a salt water pool, a plunge pool, and an outdoor “leisure” pool.

It’s part of the ambitious development project on the far west side of Manhattan, and already, some of the world’s biggest restaurateurs are opening restaurants and bars in the area. Thomas Keller, David Chang, and José Andrés will all have businesses there, while Danny Meyer is setting up shop across the street at another development called Manhattan West.

Starr, meanwhile, is growing his New York footprint with the Equinox project. His highly respected Philadelphia-based company Starr Restaurants is behind restaurants like the Clocktower, Buddakan, La Mercerie, and Morimoto. He’s been in the business for more than 20 years, and after being nominated for a James Beard for nearly a decade, he finally won the outstanding restaurateur award in 2017.

Stay tuned for more.