If you care about fine dining in New York City, you’ve been inside the multi-level restaurant space at 85 Tenth Ave. near Manhattan’s West Side Highway. As Del Posto, it helped push the boundaries of Italian fine dining, and produced some of the most groundbreaking chefs and restaurant professionals in the United States, including Brooks Headley (Superiority Burger), Mark Ladner, and Mel Rodriguez, who took over the storied location, and who now joins forces with the powerhouse Tao Group to debut the new Crane Club today.
Rodriguez is opening Crane Club with a menu of inventive dishes that reflect her background as a French-trained, Italian-obsessed chef—continuing on her work at Al Coro, which replaced Del Posto, and Mel’s Pizza, where she continues to run a creative Neapolitan pizza program, and which is also now part of the Tao Group. Along with her business partner, restaurateur Jeff Katz and Tao Group, the powerhouse hospitality and nightlife company with 80-plus restaurant and nightlife locations in 20 markets, Rodriguez will run one of New York City’s most attractive and high-upside restaurants to open this year.
The menu breaks down into appetizers, seafood, pastas, meats, and vegetables, alongside playful touches like a roaming raw bar cart. Highlights include oven-baked clams with a pepper butter sauce prepared tableside, chicory salad with tempura vegetables, and a range of pastas focused on seasonal ingredients. The steak section showcases ribeye, porterhouse, filet mignon, and a Parmigiano-Reggiano-aged New York Strip.
For dessert, pastry chef Georgia Wodder offers a banana layer cake and a unique take on the classic Chocolate Vienetta. The beverage program features contemporary riffs on classic cocktails by Chris Lemperle, who opened Crown Shy and Overstory in Lower Manhattan with Katz. Wodder, executive chef Katherine Rock, and Cat Fanelli, who oversees the wine program, worked with Rodriguez at Al Coro as well.
Stepping into Crane Club is an immersive experience, a signature design technique from the Tao Group. The restaurant's interior, designed by a collaboration between Susan Nugraha and Laseu Studio, features a main dining room with double-height ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows adorned in luxurious red velvet and cream drapery. The space is divided into intimate sections by curved booths and archways, creating an atmosphere of both elegance and warmth. A separate dimly lit bar room features a long red marble bar that stretches the length of the space. Rich materials like red velvet upholstery, smoked and herringbone floors, and textured walls brushed with gold leaf create a sense of luxury with nods to the building's Art Deco past.
Scroll down for more looks inside Crane Club and for the address and links.
85 10th Ave., NYC 10011, @craneclubrestaurant, taogroup.com
