{"id":255745,"date":"2026-06-04T22:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T22:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/255745\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T22:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T22:10:09","slug":"nycs-biggest-restaurant-opening-of-the-year-is-here-and-its-fabulous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/255745\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC\u2019s biggest restaurant opening of the year is here \u2014 and it\u2019s fabulous"},"content":{"rendered":"

The East 50s have new restaurants up the wazoo. But\u00a0they never saw anything like Simon Kim\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0three-level spectacle, Cote 550, at\u00a0550 Madison Avenue. With more feasting and boozing options than a cruise ship, it\u2019s making the biggest splash in Midtown\u2019s since the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree went up in 1931.<\/p>\n

The complex is anchored by\u00a0a new, underground version of Kim\u2019s Korean steakhouse hit Cote, but it\u2019s more lux and less raucous than the original<\/a> Flatiron location. The ground floor above it hosts three distinct, spirits-themed bars. The mezzanine level is set to house an elegant\u00a0omakase restaurant from three-Michelin-star \u00a0chef \u00a0Masahiro Yoshitake, opening later this year.<\/p>\n

Simon Kim has open Cote 550 after years of anticipation. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n

The ground floor features three distinct bars. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n

Every night, the new spot draws a crush of Ubers, Lyfts, limos and yellow cabs\u00a0as if it was\u00a0a Kennedy Airport arrivals terminal. Can this really be Madison Avenue?<\/p>\n

Designed by David Rockwell, there\u2019s almost too much going on the new spot\u2019s 15,000 square feet \u00a0to describe. You enter through the tower\u2019s through-block arcade to throbbing Bar Chimera. It\u2019s not one bar, but three \u2014 four if you count an area of \u00a0communal tables near the door \u2014 under a monumental 60-foot-high ceiling.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bar Chimera, named for\u00a0the mythical three-headed creature, consists of dedicated to\u00a0martinis, whiskey and wine. One food menu of crowd-pleasing dishes serves all three. Choices range from a luscious peppercorn mustard-coated cheeseburger of chuck, brisket and short rib ($33) and mini crisp-wrapped Wagyu corndogs ($28) to \u00a0pricey Petrosssian caviar and a $270 shellfish plateau. The latter seem tailer-made for big spenders from companies upstairs like Chubb and Hermes.<\/p>\n

The bar menus are there to support the \u00a0spirits offerings, which include scores of esoteric and rare choices. From a booth at the foot of Whiskey Bar\u2019s\u00a0soaring pink granite walls that echo \u00a0the building\u2019s exterior, \u00a0I\u00a0passed up a $1,350\u00a0glass of\u00a0Pappy Van Winkle bourbon for a potent $17 Super Creamsicle, a spring-treat elixir of \u00a0Hibiki Harmony bourbon, cream soda and orange citrate.<\/p>\n

One food menu, with haute comfort fare, serves all three bars. Gary He<\/p>\n

The sexy space is already drawing crowds. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n

A long flight of stairs leads down to a \u201cMeat Locker\u201d bar suffused in the red glow of the adjoining dry-aging locker where, unlike at the upstairs bars, you can order off the Cote menu.<\/p>\n

\u00a0From there, a \u00a0spooky, blue-lit hallway leads to \u00a0a mysterious mirrored door and to \u00a0Cote itself \u2014 \u201cit\u2019s very deep, like Eldorado Found,\u201d Kim enthused.<\/p>\n

The \u00a0room has a\u00a0tropical feel with comfy \u00a0booths, a bubbling aquamarine central pond and a jungle of vegetation. It gets\u00a0noisy but compared with the original Cote\u2019s concrete confines, \u201cIt\u2019s \u00a0a library,\u201d my friend joked.<\/p>\n

Cote\u2019s menu builds on \u00a0the\u00a0downtown one\u00a0with what Kim calls\u00a0\u201copulent\u201d touches like foie gras. The\u00a0beef extravaganza called\u00a0Butcher\u2019s Feast, which is $82 per person on East 22nd Street, is $115 at 550 Madison, where it starts with \u00a0a cube of prized Otoro tuna. It\u2019s the \u201cA5 Wagyu of the sea,\u201d Kim said,\u00a0referring to Japan\u2019s highest beef grade.<\/p>\n

The bottom level features a new location of Kim\u2019s Korean steakhouse hit Cote, but it\u2019s more lux and less raucous than the original Flatiron location Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n

Wizard-like waiters cook everything on table-top grills. \u201cWe don\u2019t encourage customers to do it themselves,\u201d Kim chuckled. \u201cWe tried it briefly downtown and the results were not pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBone bone\u201d noodle soup ($42), brimming with thin ribeye slices in Wagyu broth, makes a pricey but worth-it prelude to the feasts, which include a small cup of consomme.\u00a0Three cuts \u2014 USDA Prime Dry-aged ribeye, American wagyu, and USDA prime hanger steak \u2014 arrive without marination to show off their natural fat and juices. Their textures are buttery to various degrees, especially the wagyu that all but melts on the tongue.<\/p>\n

The menu centers around the $82 Butcher\u2019s Feast. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n

Last up is USDA prime Galbi (short rib), marinated in a sweet-and-savory Korean marmalade of soy sauce, dashi and orange juice. Its\u00a0a seductive supernova of mineral, bittersweet and salty notes \u2014 umami on steroids.<\/p>\n

Cote 550 has been in the works<\/a> for more than six years. On the prowl for a more ambitious project than the first Cote, Kim experienced a \u201cmagic moment\u201d when he first walked into \u00a0the former Sony Building \u00a0on Sept 11, 2020 \u00a0\u2014 a date charged with 9\/11 memories and a year when\u00a0COVID-19 \u00a0cast a pall over Midtown.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no DIY here. Wizard-like waiters cook everything on table-top grills. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n

It led to lengthy lease negotiations with building owner Olayan America.\u00a0Kim cited design inspirations he shared with Rockwell from all over the map, including movies \u201cBatman\u201d and \u201cThe Goonies,\u201d\u00a0plazas in Rome\u00a0and even the Sistine Chapel \u2014 \u201cnot that I\u2019m Michelangelo,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

After the New York Post broke the news of Kim\u2019s lease on Jan. 22, 2023, construction moved slowly due to oversight by \u00a0a half-dozen city agencies.<\/p>\n

Now Kim said, \u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The East 50s have new restaurants up the wazoo. But\u00a0they never saw anything like Simon Kim\u2019s\u00a0three-level spectacle, Cote…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[289,232,12185,360,9,56,63,65,64,4403,821,51032,25196],"class_list":["post-255745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-food-drink","tag-lifestyle","tag-madison-avenue","tag-midtown","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-restaurant-review","tag-restaurants","tag-steak","tag-steakhouses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}