Steakhouse Chain Capital Grille to Open a Sprawling Outpost at Midtown’s MetLife Building

Upscale steakhouse chain Capital Grille is adding a location in Midtown’s MetLife building, the New York Post reports. The forthcoming restaurant appears to be gigantic — it unfolds over 15,000 square feet, including outdoor space, according to the Post — and signals another step in the restaurant revitalization underway at Grand Central Terminal, which neighbors the MetLife tower. The steakhouse is slated to open in mid-2023 in the former home of Italian restaurant Naples 45, which was popular with the afterwork crowd. Bagel chain Black Seed Bagels and coffee shop Jack’s Stir Brew Coffee are also set to open in the building lobby later this year, while women-owned NYC brewery Talea is operating an outdoor pop-up at the corner of East 45th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, according to a spokesperson.

The National Labor Relations Board is going after Starbucks

Workers voted down a union election in one of Starbucks’ Buffalo shops earlier this year, but the NLRB alleges that the election was not fairly held because the coffee chain has been “intimidating and retaliating against workers who are seeking to unionize,” according to the New York Times. The NLRB is now seeking to make Starbucks recognize the union at that store.

Other brands dunk on Grubhub over its free lunch disaster

The “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” jokes really wrote themselves after last week’s Grubhub promotional lunch debacle. For its part, the food delivery app maintains that the promotion “drove incredible business to restaurants,” according to a spokesperson, and diners with cancelled orders were credited $15 to their accounts, while restaurants were not charged for cancelled orders due to lack of drivers.

East Village Nordic favorite Smør adds a bakery

Sourdough and rye bread, pastries, coffee, and a general store stocked with pickled herring and smoked salmon are all on deck at Smør’s new bakery, EV Grieve reports. The shop is opening this summer on the same block as the three-year-old restaurant, which is located at 441 East 12th Street, near Avenue A.