florent, the beloved Meatpacking District hangout set to close this summer after almost twenty three years in business, will at least be going out in style, according to Frank Bruni, who spoke with owner Florent Morellet yesterday. The bistro's long goodbye will last five weeks, with each week dedicated to one of the Kubler-Ross stages of grief. Week One, starting Monday, May 26, will be Denial, with the remaining four weeks themed as Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
Each theme week will have special dishes, decor and performances by familiar faces like burlesque star Dirty Martini, all leading up to a big sad send-off on June 29th, Gay Pride Day. The Post also mentions a writing contest in which entrants would share their favorite Florent memory, with the winner getting a free dinner on the last night. Morellet tells Bruni:
So many of our customers are either at the stage of Anger or Denial. Some are just in a state of shock. We’re going to gather together to go through those stages and celebrate those stages, and end with a bang, and with irony, which we’ve always done.
The quirky French bistro – housed in an old diner that was a speakeasy in the ‘20s and a favorite greasy spoon for longshoremen and meatpackers in the ‘50s – has become even more cherished in recent years as a corrective to the fratastic Bridge and Tunnel scene dominating the neighborhood. The closure is caused by the increasingly repetitive groove in New York’s broken record: obscene real estate prices. Once Morellet vacates, the lease will jump from $6,000 to $50,000 per month; odds are the new tenant won’t be operating an idiosyncratic bistro.
my mother is curating an art project which involves Mr. Morellet. It has been fun hearing her rehash their crazy conversations. He makes fantasy maps (like the ones on the walls of Florent). I will report more when I know more. I do know Roy Lichtenstein had lunch there everyday when he was alive. His studio (now foundation, headed by his widow Dorothy) is around the corner from Florent. Morellet bought a Lichtenstein that now hangs in the restaurant above where Roy used to sit.
There goes the neighborhood, for the umpteenth time. Last visit I remember was after the post 9/11 Buttholes show in Times Square; before that it gets fuzzy…
i have eaten hear so many times in the last 23 years, usually late and its always crab cake sandwich con frites........will have to do one more time.....sad
|
Each theme week will have special dishes, decor and performances by familiar faces like burlesque star Dirty Martini, all leading up to a big sad send-off on June 29th, Gay Pride Day. The Post also mentions a writing contest in which entrants would share their favorite Florent memory, with the winner getting a free dinner on the last night. Morellet tells Bruni:
So many of our customers are either at the stage of Anger or Denial. Some are just in a state of shock. We’re going to gather together to go through those stages and celebrate those stages, and end with a bang, and with irony, which we’ve always done.
The quirky French bistro – housed in an old diner that was a speakeasy in the ‘20s and a favorite greasy spoon for longshoremen and meatpackers in the ‘50s – has become even more cherished in recent years as a corrective to the fratastic Bridge and Tunnel scene dominating the neighborhood. The closure is caused by the increasingly repetitive groove in New York’s broken record: obscene real estate prices. Once Morellet vacates, the lease will jump from $6,000 to $50,000 per month; odds are the new tenant won’t be operating an idiosyncratic bistro.
- bill 4-03-2008 6:04 am
my mother is curating an art project which involves Mr. Morellet. It has been fun hearing her rehash their crazy conversations. He makes fantasy maps (like the ones on the walls of Florent). I will report more when I know more. I do know Roy Lichtenstein had lunch there everyday when he was alive. His studio (now foundation, headed by his widow Dorothy) is around the corner from Florent. Morellet bought a Lichtenstein that now hangs in the restaurant above where Roy used to sit.
- b. 4-03-2008 9:39 pm [add a comment]
There goes the neighborhood, for the umpteenth time. Last visit I remember was after the post 9/11 Buttholes show in Times Square; before that it gets fuzzy…
- alex 4-07-2008 12:10 am [add a comment]
i have eaten hear so many times in the last 23 years, usually late and its always crab cake sandwich con frites........will have to do one more time.....sad
- Skinny 4-08-2008 1:05 pm [add a comment]