Two decades is a lifetime for a New York City restaurant to thrive. In the case of Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence winner Porter House Bar and Grill, that run will come to an end after Labor Day. Is it a sad occasion? “It is,” says beloved chef and operating partner Michael Lomonaco, who has appeared at the annual New York Wine Experience’s Chefs Challenge seminar. “You always like to keep going, at least I do. But we had a great 19 years.”
Porter House is on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center—now the Deutsche Bank Center—opposite Thomas Keller’s Grand Award-winning restaurant Per Se. The enormous space is over 10,000 square feet, with seating for 175, private dining for 60 and a bar and lounge for another 60. The windows overlooking Columbus Circle and the southern tip of Central Park were a popular perch for power diners like former mayor and business publisher Mike Bloomberg and co-owner and developer Kenneth Himmel. But the room had a notably mixed clientele, and you might also see diners with shopping bags from nearby stores, tourists and local families.
Lomonaco points out that they had a substantial roster of regulars, including the late chef, author and TV star Anthony Bourdain, who lived in the building. “He was here often. We were friends for a very long time. This was a safe place for him. He could come downstairs and have a beer and a steak.”
What happened? “We’re doing good business,” Lomonaco says. “We’re busy. But the overall cost of running this business in this place just got to be too much for the owners. Dinner business and private events have been doing great. But lunch business is kind of gone.”
The 500-selection wine list leaned into the steak house menu but with distinction. Lomonaco and the owners are wine lovers, with Himmel also an owner of Grand Award-winning Grill 23 & Bar in Boston. The future of the wine list is uncertain. Lomonaco speculates that the owners will “send some of it to auction. Probably most of it will go to other restaurants.”
Lomonaco has been a presence in New York dining for decades, having cooked at Le Cirque, 21 Club and Windows on the World, among others. What’s next for him? “I’ll wind up someplace. I’m talking to people. Keep going, right here in the city, doing what I’ve been doing for a long time now—creating menus, writing recipes, creating experiences for people. I love doing that. I’ve been fortunate to have decades to do that and I want to continue.”—Owen Dugan
Daniel Boulud Closes Three New York City Restaurants to Make Way for a New Brasserie
In mid-June, acclaimed French-born New York chef Daniel Boulud announced the closure of three of his longstanding restaurants on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Bar Boulud (which has held a Best of Award of Excellence since 2009), Boulud Sud and Épicerie Boulud—adjacent properties on West 64th Street, across Broadway from Lincoln Center—will be renovated and combined into a new brasserie, to open this fall. The restaurant will be designed by the Rockwell Group, which has worked with Boulud on other restaurants.
While Boulud hasn’t released details about the new restaurant’s menu or wine program, both are likely to be impressive. The chef—whose other establishments include his Grand Award–winning flagship Daniel and two Best of Award of Excellence winners, Café Boulud and the new La Tête d’Or—has long shown an affection for wine that sets him apart. (His parents even made their own wine when he was growing up on a farm outside of Lyon.)
In an Instagram post announcing the closings, Boulud reflected on the locations’ nearly 20 years of service on the Upper West Side—with a nod to the importance of wine. “We’ve shared countless boards of charcuterie, coq au vin, chicken tagine, grapefruit givrés and jeroboams of Burgundy together. I’m deeply grateful to our talented chefs and incredible service team—and to you, our devoted guests—for making this a beloved destination for the Lincoln Center community.”—Kenny Martin
The Lambs Club Opens the First Florentine-Style Wine Window in New York City
Who’s behind it: Chris Miller and chef Jack Logue—the team behind The Lambs Club, a Best of Award of Excellence winner in the Chatwal Hotel on 44th Street—have reimagined the historic Florentine tradition of buying a glass of wine through a hole in the wall and brought this fun Italian concept to the hustle and bustle of Times Square. The business partners have turned the small pedestrian plaza on Broadway between 43rd and 44th into a venue straight out of a Florentine picture book, where a menu of casual Italian fare, plus a compact list of accessibly priced Italian wines, are served through a miniature arched window.
When it opened: June 16, 2025
Why you should visit: “We wanted to give local New Yorkers and visitors alike a reason to enjoy Times Square. So many want to avoid it, but we want them to stay and sit a while, enjoy a glass of wine, take a selfie at the window!” Miller told Wine Spectator. “Plus, where else in the city can you get a glass of good Italian wine for $13 dollars these days?”
Logue, who did his culinary training in Italy, said that during that time, “I developed a deep appreciation for the food and the culture around it — how something as simple as a glass of wine or an espresso and a sandwich can become a daily ritual. The wine windows of Florence capture that spirit perfectly, and bringing that experience to New York feels like a natural extension of what we’re doing at The Lambs Club: blending tradition with creativity in a way that feels joyful and welcoming.”
What’s on the wine list? “Every wine is under $20,” Miller states, “and that was a real goal of ours …. With the way the wine world is going these days, with certain groups losing interest, creating a place where good wine is fun and easy to access was super important to us.” The nine wines on the list—one Prosecco, one rosé, three whites, three reds and one Vin Santo—primarily come from Antinori family estates and brands across Italy. Great value options of high quality include Antinori’s Chianti Classico Pèppoli 2023, Tenuta Guado al Tasso Vermentino 2023 and Scalabrone 2023 rosé. If you’re craving something sweet, a Santa Cristina Vin Santo fills out the list.
The menu: While the Lambs Club provides modern American cuisine in a fine-dining atmosphere, Buchette del Vino offers more pared-down, casual Italian fare. Paninis, tramezzini (triangular Italian sandwiches), salads, a daily pasta special and gelato are served from 11 a.m. until midnight, along with a selection of Italian sodas, coffee and beer. The creative, quirkily named sandwiches include enticing combinations such as the Fashion Week (made with forest mushrooms, caramelized onions, braised artichokes, arugula, fontina, smoked gouda and truffle spread on focaccia) and the DiGiovanni (homemade porchetta, grilled broccolini, provolone and pesto on ciabatta). The gelato flavors are classic, with options like cioccolato, fragola, limone, stracciatella and nocciola.
The design: Container-building company Uncontained/BEI and Fu Wilmers Design firm created this free-standing restaurant at the intersection of one of Manhattan’s busiest cross streets—no easy feat—using two custom-designed shipping containers, removable for New Years Eve. A stucco wall frames the slate wine window, which was sandblasted to look like worn stone. The venue’s food service area has been built out with a terrace of dark wooden crossbeams, and the seating area is encircled by wine barrels as a nod to the theme of the space.—Olivia Nolan
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