British Seafood Hit Dame’s Follow-Up Restaurant Will Be a Nose-to-Tail Bistro

In less than a year since opening Dame — the acclaimed English-leaning Greenwich Village seafood restaurant — Patricia Howard and Ed Szymanski are already expanding with a follow-up venture: Lord’s is slated to open this fall just three blocks from the hitmaking original. (Howard and Szymanski asked Eater to withhold the exact address until closer to the opening, due to the harassment Dame has faced.)

The couple’s efforts to double down on Dame’s success should be no surprise to those following their meteoric rise. In February 2020, Dame launched as a Greenwich Village pop-up on the same block and instantly drew crowds. By May 2021, the Eater New Guard winners had more than 500 customers already booked for reservations at their hotly-anticipated full-service spot — weeks before it was even open at 87 MacDougal Street.

And while much of Dame’s success — which Eater critic Ryan Sutton called a “thrilling new era of British seafood” — can be traced to its best selling fish and chips, the classic English dish won’t be found at Lord’s.

“There’s the side of English cooking that’s seafood,” says Szymanski. “But there’s another side that is nose-to-tail more bistro English cooking that doesn’t really exist in New York.”

He adds, “English food has a very bad rap in the U.S.,” and he’s excited to expand customers’ potential feeling of the cuisine with house made charcuterie, offal, beef Wellington, meat pies, and more. In addition to the meat offerings, Lord’s will highlight fresh produce in the summer, and pickled items in the winter; seafood will still play a role at Lord’s, such as with a whole grilled fish, and some shellfish offerings. Overall, Szymanski says he sees Lord’s as a more “well-rounded” menu that offers dishes for those who don’t eat seafood, too.

Lord’s will have around 50 seats, more than double the approximately 22 seats at the much smaller Dame, Howard and Szymanski tell Eater. In addition, Lord’s will have a private dining room — something that Dame customers have often requested. As Howard describes it, the Lord’s space will be a more “elegant, grown-up” sibling to Dame as it trades in the royal blue for a stately dark green.

Over the past year, Dame has made a name for itself, not just for its food but as a leader in how a restaurant is run. Much like at Dame, Lord’s will also start by opening only during the week (closing on Saturdays is a rare — and radical — move in the industry, but one that is intended to prioritize the work-life balance of their employees). Still, they’re toying with the idea of opening for Saturday lunch.

On Instagram, the couple documented the difficulties of finding the right space: They took questions from followers throughout the process, shared information about liquor license attorneys, and posted photos of spaces as they toured.

Originally, the duo planned to open Damselle, a wine bar adjacent to Dame. “The original impetus was Dame being so full and having a waiting area for people to have a glass of wine and a snack,” says Szymanski. After Dame garnered glowing reviews, they wanted a more ambitious restaurant project for their next stop. But their wine bar, Damselle, is still top of mind, and the couple is continuing to look for that spaces.