Balthazar
524 Broadway | also 80 Spring Street | SoHo | built 1903
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1903
Arthur Bowditch's eleven-story store and loft building at Broadway and Spring Street is completed
The Landmarks Preservation Commission's survey records that work on 524-528 Broadway began on September 15, 1902, and finished on May 28, 1903. Architect Arthur H. Bowditch designed it, George H. Fuller Company built it, and the Baynard Realty Company owned it. The eleven-story building was made for stores and lofts, with a facade of granite, limestone, brick and terra cotta, and it also fronts Spring and Crosby Streets.
- 1997
Keith McNally opens Balthazar in a SoHo building once used as a tannery
Restaurateur Keith McNally opened the French brasserie Balthazar on April 21, 1997, in a building said to have housed a tannery. He styled it like a Paris brasserie, with high-backed red leather banquettes, scarred brass mirrors and a high tin ceiling. Seating about 180, it came to serve roughly 1,500 guests a day, and by 2012 Fodor's ranked it first in the city for celebrity-spotting.
“It opened on April 21, 1997, and is owned by British-born restaurateur Keith McNally.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1997
Madonna joins Isabella Rossellini at a book party in Balthazar's opening year
In 1997, the year Balthazar opened, Isabella Rossellini celebrated her book Some of Me with a party at the restaurant, and a Daily News photograph shows her there with Madonna. Chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr had helped kickstart the restaurant that year, and the paper later called it Keith McNally's eternal scene-spot.
Source: nydailynews.com
- 1998
Balthazar plays the restaurant 'Balzac' in a Sex and the City episode about scoring a table
In the 1998 episode 'The Power of Female Sex', Carrie Bradshaw and Samantha Jones struggle to get a table at an exclusive restaurant called Balzac, which stands in for Balthazar. They finally succeed after Carrie hands the hostess a tampon in the restroom. The restaurant appeared in a string of other shows and novels over the next decade, including an episode of Will & Grace in 1999.
“Carrie gives the hostess a tampon in the restaurant bathroom.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1998
A party for Oprah Winfrey's Vogue cover draws Maya Angelou and Luther Vandross
Balthazar hosted a party celebrating Oprah Winfrey's 1998 Vogue cover, and the Daily News photographed Luther Vandross and Maya Angelou among the guests. The SoHo brasserie, which had opened in 1997, was already a place where well-known people marked occasions.
Source: nydailynews.com
- 1999
Jerry Seinfeld proposes to Jessica Sklar at Balthazar
In November 1999 the comedian Jerry Seinfeld proposed to Jessica Sklar at Balthazar. By then Keith McNally's brasserie, opened on April 21, 1997, was known for celebrity-watching, and it had appeared that year in a Will & Grace episode in which Karen uses her profile to get a last-minute table for four.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2012
The Daily News reviews Balthazar at 15 and finds the SoHo scene-spot still reliable
Fifteen years after it opened, Daily News critic Michael Kaminer reviewed Balthazar in August 2012 and judged it neither a parody of itself nor a faded imitation of a downtown restaurant. He praised the dependable classics from a kitchen launched by Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, naming a $43 steak au poivre with a tall pile of fries and a $13 French onion soup. He also noted that the operation is so efficient that entrees arrive while diners are still thinking about their appetizers.
Source: nydailynews.com
- 2012
Fodor's ranks Balthazar New York's top spot for celebrity-watching
In 2012 Fodor's ranked Balthazar first in New York City for celebrity-watching. The brasserie seats 180 and typically serves around 1,500 guests a day, with steak frites its best seller at up to 200 plates daily. The staff numbers over 200, and two prep cooks work full time just on the potatoes for frying.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2022
Keith McNally bans James Corden from Balthazar, then lifts the ban hours later
On October 17, 2022, McNally posted on Instagram that he had banned the talk-show host James Corden, calling him abusive to his staff. He cited a June incident, in which Corden allegedly showed staff a hair in his food, and an October 9 outburst at a server over his wife's omelet. Corden phoned McNally to apologize, and the ban was rescinded within hours.
Source: nbcnews.com
Further reading
- Balthazar (restaurant)Wikipedia
Nearby
- 520 Broadway1 entry
- Nino Mier Gallery514 Broadway | 5 entries
- 518 Broadway1 entry
- 530 Broadway7 entries
- 83 Spring Street1 entry
- 512-516 Broadway56 Crosby Street | 2 entries