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The highly-anticipated opening of famed French luxury retailer Printemps in the Financial District will not only offer the latest haute couture – but also haute cuisine from a Queens-born top chef.
Gregory Gourdet returns to New York after spending the past 17 years on the West Coast, winning three James Beard awards for French-inspired fare that draws on his Haitian roots.
“It’s great to be back,” Gourdet told Side Dish in an exclusive interview.
“I love fashion and with my Haitian heritage, and starting my career in French fine dining, it all really made sense.”
Gourdet will oversee five food and beverage hotspots across two floors at Printemps, which means spring in French and officially opens its doors Thursday — the first day of spring — at the landmark One Wall Street skyscraper.
The department store features an all-day café, a champagne bar and a raw bar – as well as Maison Passerelle, an 85-seat fine-dining restaurant that comes with its own separate entrance on Broadway.
Touted as the biggest retail and restaurant opening in New York since the creation of Hudson Yards, the shopping mecca will also hopefully revitalize a neighborhood hard hit by the work-from-home phenomenon that followed the COVID pandemic.
During a soft opening on Tuesday, Keillie O’Malley, 37, and her friend Kiera Elliott, 28, were among those who popped into the stylish Champagne Bar. The pair were celebrating Elliott’s upcoming marriage.
“We’re doing some window shopping, some wedding shopping and some drinking,” said O’Malley, who lives in FiDi. “Everyone gives this area a hard time. It was very commuter, but it’s starting to get a personality. I hope this will help [the area] get nicer.”
Elliott, who lives nearby in Battery City, added: “It feels more elevated — something new and exciting to the neighborhood, bringing some romance to the area.”
The “sip and shop” destination even has roaming Champagne bar carts and a spot to hold the pricey flutes in each dressing room.
“What we are doing here is really special. It’s a fashion and food and beverage/hospitality experience, and all those pieces interplay with each other very well,” said Gourdet, who got his start working for Michelin-starred globally acclaimed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
“People are walking around drinking Champagne while shopping, which is perfect, and they’re also eating oysters and shrimp cocktail on the other side of the space. I think it’s cool.”
Along with Maison Passerelle, which opens in April, Printemps features the 25-seat all-day restaurant, Café Jalu – named after the retailer’s founders Jules and Augustine Jaluzot.
It offers fresh juices, viennoiserie and pastries, including many gluten and dairy free options.
‘We want this to be everyone’s favorite coffee shop in the neighborhood. The coffee is fantastic. We have pastries, croissants, and we’re also getting the lunch crowd and afternoon crowd,” Gourdet said.
There’s also Salon Vert, a 32-seat raw bar on the second floor — where Gourdet adds Haitian green seasoning to his oysters’ mignonettes.
The Champagne Bar, near the spa and beauty treatment area of the store, also has zero-proof options, mocktails and green juices.
Behind Maison Passerelle is The Red Room Bar, a 25-seat cocktail lounge where Goudet serves cocktails, mocktails and small bites — like a shrimp cocktail with creole cocktail sauce.
The Red Room Bar is adjacent to the Red Room, which also happens to be the city’s latest interior landmark, designated in June.
It features double-height windows, 33-foot-high ceilings, and red ombré and gold mosaic walls created by renowned 20th century muralist Hildreth Meière.
The building’s interiors are by Paris-based architect Laura Gonzalez.
Funded by Qatar’s Olympe Investments, Printemps occupies 55,000 square feet in the Ralph Walker-designed skyscraper.
Built in 1931, the landmarked, limestone clad tower was originally the Irving Trust Co. headquarters.
It features luxury residential condos from developer Harry Macklowe, who is banking that the department store’s opening will help rev up residential sales.
Having the “food and beverage seamlessly integrated into the store” is part of what makes Printemps in New York unique, Jean-Marc Bellaiche, CEO of Printemps Group, in a statement.
