The old Central Park South San Domenico location
photo: Courtesy of San Domenico
After 20 years of feeding classic Italian fare to "jackets-only" clientele on NYC's Central Park South, Tony May's San Domenico is going Downtown and freshening up its image. The restaurant, which officially closed last night, is celebrating its last hurrahs today with a final luncheon and an "alumni dinner" where former chefs like Scott Conant and Andrew Carmellini are teaming up with current executive chef Odette Fada. The restaurant is then going into a hibernation of sorts as a high-end caterer until its new digs, at 19 East 26th Street, are ready late next spring.
San Domenico won't just have a new home next year – it will also have a new name, SD26: San Domenico. Its new space, designed by Massimo Vignelli and architect Daniel Barteluce (neither of which have worked on restaurants before), will be much larger, encompassing two dining levels with an upstairs mezzanine available for private
functions, a long black granite bar, a lounge area, a chef's table in
the kitchen, a wine tasting room and an open wine cellar. There will even be a small retail area to sell products used in the food. Forgoing the traditional menu, May and Fada plan to have an open-ended menu that will just list the dishes available without forcing them into categories like appetizers or second courses. The dress code will also be lost in the move because, as May explained, "once you had to wear a jacket and tie in places like this, now we let almost anyone in. As long as they have pants on."