Café Boulud Closes Upper East Side Restaurant After 23 Years

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — One of the Upper East Side's dining destinations is leaving its longtime home: Café Boulud will not reopen at the Surrey Hotel, where the upscale eatery had been housed since 1998.

But Chef Daniel Boulud intends to reopen the restaurant in another location on the Upper East Side, a spokesperson told Patch on Thursday.

The restaurant, on the corner of East 76th Street and Madison Avenue, had been closed since the pandemic began, prompting speculation about its future. Boulud told Eater last fall that he was keeping the eatery closed until new management took over the Surrey, whose former managers were moving through bankruptcy proceedings.

The restaurant's permanent closure, first reported by the New York Times and Eater, marks the end of a two-decade era. It will reportedly be replaced in 2023 by Casa Tua, an Italian restaurant based in Miami Beach.

The Michelin-starred café opened in the former home of Boulud's flagship restaurant, Daniel, which had moved a few blocks south to East 65th Street.

Specializing in "elevated French classics," Café Boulud offered four different menus, including "La Tradition," consisting of old-school dishes like duck rillettes, and La Saison, which emphasized fresh ingredients sourced from local farms.

"Sometimes you need a restaurant that runs on wheels so you can get on with the task at hand—be it impressing your client or date—without wondering if anyone is ever going to take your order or bring your wine," reads the Michelin Guide's summary. "Chef Boulud’s place at the Surrey Hotel is one such example."

Boulud told the Times that Café Boulud's closure was spurred by the new management, who "wanted to take the restaurant in a direction that didn't suit me."

In addition to the new Upper East Side location, Café Boulud will remain open permanently at the Blantyre hotel in Lenox, Mass., where it spent last summer in residence, Boulud's spokesperson said.

Other Upper East Side eateries searching for a new home in the neighborhood include Two Little Red Hens Bakery, which revealed in March that it was leaving its Second Avenue storefront in search of a larger space.

Meanwhile, scores of businesses have closed in the past year, including Beyoglu, Bistro Le Steak, Candle Café, Rathbones, and dozens of chain retailers.