Newsday from New York, New York • 75

a TTTrr rnpr I "77 Now' Is a Food Court I'MIgMli i 1 B7 a By Peter Gianotti Gtlbart Jy Photo Susan Fins and bar don Mocha stop In for some pampering by Goomanslngh restaurant is expected to reach (350 reflecting its California counterpart The restaurants also reflect the ongoing change in high-end New York dining moving from the French-dominated menus that defined it for decades to more New American and Asian-accented cuisines that use French technique as well as shifting the dining spotlight from downtown and the mid-50s northward Time expensive showcase opens as same venerable New York institutions French and American are closing French classic Lutece and Gage Tollner shut last weekend La Cote Basque the legendary French restaurant will dose in a few weeks with a more casual brasserie-style establishment under the same chef-owner taking over the West 56th Street address La Grenouille the French restaurant that opened in 1962 continues elegantly on East 52nd Street with its grand floral displays and quenelles in this new environment great about New York City is the dynamic of said Charles Masson manager of La Grenouille Citing Time Warner Center he said "in the end it will be positive bringing yet another attraction to the But Masson didn't expect the classic restaurants to vanish more than the introduction of VCRs and DVDs would endanger the existence of the opera Momentarily they will lure away diners But no place like -Jean-Jacques Rachou chef-owner of La Cote Basque noted however that the competition has changed dramatically every street you- have a good restaurant You used to have just a few like a cake that before was cut into six or eight portions Now 100 Time slice depends in part on the extent of the economic recovery increase in tour Photo Bnic Oilfaact any celebrated restaurant The Quilted Giraffe embodied haute New York in the 1980s Wine now a conault-(J 1 ant recently visited Per Se one of the more anticipated dining rooms at Time Warner Center I saw Thomas kitchen I wished I was still in he said reaction to the multdmillion-dollar kitchen in the $1 7-billion center underscores the skyscraper ambitions promise and immediate attraction of the galaxy-of-stars food court soon to illuminate Columbus Circle have four or five new restaurants at the vexyhighest level opening simultaneously Keller is owner-chef of The French Laundry the Napa Valley restaurant frequently cited as the brat The 16 tables at Per Se al-' ready are booked well into April In addition to Keller the culinary who at Time Warner includes Charlie Trotter of the namesake Chicago restaurant opening a seafood house in September Gray Kunz who earned widespread praise at Lrapinasse in the St Regis Hotel and will be starting Cafe Gray in late March or early April Masa Takayama with an offspring of Ginza Suahi-Kb in Los Angeles expected in March and file perpetual-motion Jean Vongerichten creator in York of Vang JoJo nd Georges across the street sub- mittdng a steakhbuse called Rare this month really drops a heavy anchor in that area in terms of making it a restaurant said Michael Batter berry editor and publisher of Food Arts magairina at the rebirth of downtown SoHoTriBeCa This will give Columbus Circle a complete identity change It stimulates Jw dining public in a way with another little adrenalin mull And post-9 11 he said the Time Warner complex a determined advance moving Batterberry who chronicled city dining since the American Revolution in his book the Town in New said of midtown particularly west of Fifth Avenue is going to be impacted' But is it going to be like a meteor striking? How long will it reverberate? When you have the quality of Keller Kunz and Trotter obviously going to be a Tom Valenti whose restaurants Oueat and have helped revive West Side dining said almost as if a whole new level of restaurant seat is being created at a price going to be up there not to say not going to be worth every Per Se for example has three menus: a five course selection $125 a person for dinner course vegetarian (135 and nine-course tasting menu (150 on a par with prices at The French Laundry Dining at Masa the Japanese Top too bar it Mm above his naw restaurant Par So Nmdqr open (The first Per Se opened Monday) Jazs at Lincoln three performance centers totaling 2000 seats will open in the fall and several stores such as Samsung have yet to set up CNN moved in yet and so is not yet giving tours The view of Columbus Circle is dirt and construction equipment its planned (30-million renovation be complete until spring Barbara Martin a 48-year-old took the Long Island the same day Fine drove in from Westchester (Note to those driving: A parking garage will soon be operating below ground) She wanted to pick up a book on tarot at Borders and to meet a friend for a bite at Whole Foods a warehouse-like supermarket that has 250 seats so shoppers can eat what they buy at the sushi bar juice bar and hot foods area Martin said The Shops at Columbus Circle is superior to most malls seen on Long Island or Queens (Except perhaps Miracle' Mile) friend Tamara Ku-lukundis 43 is an artist and writer who lives a few blocks from the Shops us who live in the neighborhood this is a fabulous place to over the cacophony of the juice blenders cries and the roll of shopping carts so thrilled this is It beats the Coliseum that was previously on the site with its car and boat shows she said Kulukundis was here opening weekend when she said the line to get into Whole Foods snaked through the center Shoppers of course will make or break The Shops at Columbus Circle City dwellers may not in the long run be willing to incorporate vertical shopping into lives accustomed to street-level buying Tourists may or may not boost sales if they work the Time Warner Center into their itineraries along See CENTER cm B8 Tbs design Is Intended to give the city new landmark she said speaking 1 1I I ism and whether the restaurants finally merit the word-of-mouth that precedes them and the tab that follows the meal of the allure of the new restaurants in the center is the luster of the said Bat-terberry even though is an element of it being what people derisively called a Snail He said has an edge which is appealing to a younger generation Tne idea is a kind of interna tion- chit Thomas Kallar at in pen he added one thing for one audience and hoping that the other one with the money Barry Wine whose stellar restaurant charged (100 for a tasting menu and a (30 premium for beluga caviar-filled crepes called purses" likened the one-stop high-rise Time Warner phenomenon to another star magnetism does remind me ofLas Vegas where there are these brand-name restaurants in the casinos There will be enough people to fill the To view videos one a critique of the architecture by Nowaday's Justin Davidson and -another offering an inside look at some of the tonier boutiques go to wwwNYNewsdayeonr.