Marcel Is Overcurated and Underwhelming

Marcel opened in April and quickly became a required stop on the spring social circuit. Diners include prominent figures such as David Geffen, Lauren Santo Domingo, Kelly Wearstler, and art critics. The dining room features museum-quality canvases by artists including Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, and Ellsworth Kelly, creating an atmosphere where recognition signals power and prestige. Service is fast and highly attentive, including unusual requests like black latex gloves for handling poulet rôti. The restaurant’s name honors Breuer, while Stephen and Robin Alesch of Roman and Williams designed the interiors. The 1966 brutalist building is not landmarked, and walnut cladding warms the concrete, with opinions varying on the overlay.

"Three days after Sotheby's successfully auctioned a Rothko for $85.8 million, I dined with the acquisitions class at Marcel, the fine-dining commissary in the auctioneer's newly acquired (ex-Whitney, ex-Met, ex-Frick) Breuer Building. Since opening in April, Marcel has become a mandatory visit on the spring social circuit. Of course that was David Geffen I spotted dining with friends one otherwise sleepy Sunday night. The social fixture Lauren Santo Domingo, decorator Kelly Wearstler, and one of the Times ' art critics have all paraded through."

"Here, renown is its own seasoning. Even the unrecognizable have the aura of power or prestige, with the requests to match. A busy, burbling staff speeds around eagerly, offering additions and adjustments to requests I would never think to make. I watched a nearby diner ask for and receive black latex gloves for manhandling his poulet rôti."

"Even the unrecognizable have the aura of power or prestige, with the requests to match. A busy, burbling staff speeds around eagerly, offering additions and adjustments to requests I would never think to make. I watched a nearby diner ask for and receive black latex gloves for manhandling his poulet rôti."

""Marcel," which christens the restaurant but does not insulate it from a little aesthetic rejuvenation from Stephen and Robin Alesch of the architecture and design firm Roman and Williams, who designed the interiors and manage the restaurant. The building, Breuer's 1966 brutalist masterpiece, is not in fact landmarked, so the Alesches have warmed its magisterially chilly interior with a partial cladding of walnut along the walls and ceiling. How you feel about a walnut overlay on Breuer's totemic concrete is probably a good measure of how you'll feel about Marcel."

Read at Grub Street