For fifteen months, the corner of Broadway and West 64th Street sat dark. Bar Boulud, Boulud Sud and Épicerie Boulud all closed in July 2025 after roughly two decades across from Lincoln Center. West Side Rag reported that all three closed that month and would be merged into a single new venture.
That venture, Brasserie Boulud, opened on Thursday, October 8. For now it is a dinner restaurant. The rest of the day near the plaza has been picked up, piece by piece, by smaller openings within a few blocks: a dim sum room with carts from 10 a.m., a standing-room slice shop, an omakase counter, a musubi window and a kosher bakery due next month. Read together, they make a better guide to the Lincoln Center blocks this fall than the flagship alone.
What Brasserie Boulud is, and when it serves
Brasserie Boulud sits at 1900 Broadway, at Lincoln Plaza. Eater NY describes it as a two-story flagship that brings the best-known dishes from all three closed restaurants onto one menu. That means seafood towers, steak frites, boudin blanc, lobster soufflé and the return of the DB Burger, with pâtés from the charcuterie house Maison Vérot and wines from Burgundy and the Rhône. The restaurant's own menu lists French onion soup at $21, lobster soufflé at $35, boudin blanc at $25 and the Brasserie Boulud Burger at $29.
Rockwell Group designed the space, with a 27-seat central bar, private dining rooms and an intimate speakeasy. According to Eater, the speakeasy serves cocktails "well into the night."
The menu page currently lists service Tuesday through Sunday, 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. In September, a spokesperson told West Side Rag that breakfast, lunch and dinner were planned, with morning coffee and croissants to eat in or take out. Eater repeated the promise of morning coffee and croissants. Morning service has been announced but does not yet appear on the posted schedule. The opening date itself moved: West Side Rag first reported September 17, and Eater later confirmed October 8.
Eater reported on October 2 that reservations had gone live that day and were already booked well into October. Pre- and post-theater menus are returning, but their prices have not been published.
So for the rest of this month, the restaurant meant to replace three is open six hours a day, six days a week, and most of those tables are already taken. The rest of the day falls to its neighbors.
The clock, block by block
Here is how this fall's newcomers fit around Brasserie Boulud's posted schedule.
| Place | Where | What it is | Posted hours | Price markers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wu's Dynasty | West 70th St, between Amsterdam and West End | Cantonese, push-cart dim sum | Daily, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; carts 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | $16.99 lunch special |
| Lucia Pizza | 159 Columbus Ave, between W 67th and 68th | New York-style slices and pies | Mon–Sat 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sun noon to 10 p.m. | Plain slice quoted at $3.50 |
| Brasserie Boulud | 1900 Broadway at W 64th | French brasserie | Tue–Sun 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. | Onion soup $21; burger $29; caviar $145 |
| CHIKARA | 150 W 70th St, between Broadway and Columbus | Sushi, robata, omakase | Wed–Sun 5 to 9:45 p.m. | Omakase $185; nigiri about $9 to $20 |
| Kine Musubi | 128 W 72nd St, between Columbus and Amsterdam | Hawaiian musubi | Regular hours not yet set | $6 to $8 each |
The table shows a range from a $3.50 slice to a $185 omakase within about six blocks. It also shows where the gaps are. Before 10 a.m., none of these places has posted hours. On Mondays, only Wu's Dynasty and Lucia list service. After a matinee, the dim sum carts are the only option on this list with daytime seating.
Daytime belongs to West 70th Street
Wu's Dynasty does the most to cover the daytime hours near the plaza. I Love the Upper West Side reported that proprietor Derek Wu, formerly of Wu's Wonton King, opened to the public on September 3. The menu runs to push-cart dim sum every day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., plus roast meats, seafood and banquet dishes. Walk-ins are welcome during regular service. The Infatuation singled out the dim sum and the seafood from the front-window tanks, and noted a $16.99 lunch special. The space was last home to Tavola Della Nonna, which opened in February 2020 and closed soon afterward. Local press gives the address as 208 West 70th Street, while the restaurant's own site lists 210. The cross streets, Amsterdam and West End avenues, are the same in every account.
A Saturday ballet matinee shows why this matters. New York City Ballet's All Balanchine I program has a matinee on October 17, and Eclectic NYCB I had one on October 10. A matinee audience leaving the plaza on a weekend afternoon finds the brasserie closed until 4:30. Two blocks north, the carts are still running until 3.
The quick bite moved to Columbus Avenue
Lucia Pizza opened October 5 at 159 Columbus Avenue, in a space that used to be a Starbucks. Founder and head chef Salvatore "Sal" Carlino makes New York-style pizza from slow-fermented dough, sold by the slice or the pie. Before opening, the shop quoted a plain slice at $3.50 and specialty slices at $5.99. Signature options include the Caramelle Piccanti, the Salsiccia and a three-cheese cream of spinach. There are standing bars but no tables, and the shop stays open until 10 p.m. every night. A standing slice is the kind of meal that fits between leaving the office and a 7:30 curtain.
A few blocks north, Kine Musubi soft-opened September 24 at 128 West 72nd Street, in a former smoke shop. Co-founders Chi Ian Chan, who grew up in Hawaii, and Lizzy Han make musubi to order with house-made teriyaki, jasmine rice and nori. Each runs $6 to $8, with options including Spam Lakika, a crispy shrimp katsu Ebi Opae and vegan tofu versions, plus a five-piece mix-and-match box for $30. At the last report, it had not yet set regular hours.
The splurge has a second address
Brasserie Boulud is not the only new place near the plaza aimed at a long dinner. CHIKARA opened in August at 150 West 70th Street. Its co-owners are Yumi Matsumura, a former Sushi of Gari vice president, and chef Atsutaka Chikaraishi. The chef's omakase runs about 15 courses at $185 per guest, and the counter is reserved for it. À la carte nigiri is listed at roughly $9 to $20, alongside rolls, robata and appetizers such as tori karaage. It serves Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 9:45 p.m., and takes bookings on Resy. With the brasserie booked well into October, CHIKARA is the other new reservation within a short walk of the opera house.
The calendar that will fill these rooms
Lincoln Center's fall schedule decides which of these places is crowded on a given night:
- October 15 to 17: free shows at the David Rubenstein Atrium, with Mei Semones on the 15th, Emilia y Pablo on the 16th and LOL: Laughing Out Lonely on the 17th, all at 7:30 p.m. The free PLAZA installation is on Josie Robertson Plaza.
- October 18: New York City Ballet's Adrian Danchig-Waring Farewell, near the end of the fall season.
- Through October: the Metropolitan Opera's October calendar includes La Bohème, Così fan tutte, Lincoln in the Bardo, Macbeth and Medea.
- November 27 to January 2: George Balanchine's The Nutcracker.
Free Atrium shows at 7:30 start well before both the brasserie and Lucia close for the night. The Nutcracker brings weekend matinees and family audiences through the holidays, which is when daytime seating near the plaza is hardest to find.
The morning gap has a date
The two openings still to come fill the hours the current lineup leaves out. Café Alon, a kosher, high-end Mediterranean coffee shop and artisanal bakery from Israeli restaurant operator Ofer Puder, is expected in November at 200 West End Avenue, between West 69th and 70th streets. West Side Rag reported plans for house-baked pastries and burekas, sandwiches and salads, with expected hours of Sunday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. If those hours hold, it will be the first place on this list with a posted pre-10 a.m. opening.
Further out, Café des Artistes plans to return to 1 West 67th Street in early 2027 under Ariel Arce and Max Katzenberg. USA Today reported that the relaunch will bring back signature dishes and keep the Christy murals. That would put a second legacy name back near the plaza within months of the first.
If living within a short walk of Lincoln Center is part of how you are thinking about your next Upper West Side home, The Sapir Team can walk you through the West 60s and low 70s block by block, from co-op buildings along West End Avenue to condos near Columbus. Book a private consultation.
