Cote and the Risks of the Clubstaurant

Cote opened in 2017 in the Flatiron district, combining Korean barbecue tabletop grills and a classic Korean menu with American steak-house styling, including dark-leather décor, dry-aging, a serious wine list, and European-inspired hospitality. The name reflects both Korean meaning and a French beef reference. Within a year, it became the first Korean-barbecue restaurant worldwide to earn a Michelin star. The concept then expanded to Miami, Singapore, and Las Vegas, and a new Midtown location opened. Simon Kim also built COQODAQ, known for an extensive champagne list and a caviar-topped chicken bite. The latest project, Cote 550 at 550 Madison, is positioned as a grand luxury centerpiece within a vertically stacked complex of three restaurants.

"He borrowed Cote's format from the former, with grills inset into tabletops and a classic Korean menu of meat, marinades, and banchan. From the American steak house, he adopted a certain slick-edged expense-account swagger, with dark-leather décor, a dry-aging program, a serious wine list, and European-inspired hospitality. The name itself carried a double meaning- cote, in Korean, means "flower," or "essence," but the word also evokes "côte de boeuf," the French term for a standing rib roast."

"Within a year, Kim's restaurant became the first Korean-barbecue place in the world to earn a Michelin star. In the time since, Kim and his company, Gracious Hospitality Management, have taken Cote global, opening outposts in Miami, Singapore, and Las Vegas-and, as of April, in midtown."

"Kim seems constitutionally incapable of doing anything small; his follow-up to the original Cote, the Korean fried-chicken joint COQODAQ, also in Flatiron, became famous almost immediately for its encyclopedic champagne list, created by the group's beverage director, Victoria James, and for its Golden Nugget, a boneless-chicken bite topped with a generous dollop of caviar."

""This is my Sistine Chapel," he told Grub Street, referring to the soaring ceilings of 550 Madison, the postmodern tower in which his latest project is housed. Cote 550, as it's called, makes up just one-third of it; the address is home to three new Gracious Hospitality restaurants, stacked vertically. Cote 550 occupies"

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