A RESPONSE TO
ALISON
Alison Hutchison’s New York-Gotham story was brought to life in yesterday’s New York Times. A few years ago, Alison came to Gotham with a book and an appetite for more than just dinner. Pictured here is some reading from our new lounge library, paired with Sancerre. We hope Alison will make a new Gotham memory soon!
By Bret Csencsitz
This weekend we conducted our first all-team meeting, taking a moment of the kitchen’s precious prep time to bring everyone together.
In these unprecedented times I find myself grateful for every employee who is helping launch our successful comeback. In our meeting I wanted to convey the sense of purpose and responsibility I feel in maintaining this New York City icon and why, when Gotham closed two years ago, I set about reopening it. This restaurant is full of memories, and it is a place that means a great deal to many people, people who have celebrated here, commemorated life moments here, and who bring a little of their daily life to our dining room over business of every sort. I was and am convinced that we have the chance to not only bring back an even-better Gotham but to participate in New York’s comeback in a meaningful way.
With these thoughts echoing over my Sunday New York Times, a mystery client from Gotham’s past arose in the pages of“Metropolitan Diary.” Alison Hutchison’s charming vignette, starring Gotham, was selected by the editors as a telling tale of NYC:
From the New York Times “Metropolitan Diary,” Sunday, March 6, 2022
Many things about this urban slice-of-life struck me positively, as our reservations steadily rise and the latest surge—hopefully the last—recedes. There are many challenges to face: staffing, inflation, historical comparisons, and business levels, but we get to be part of a renewed New York, and being part of that is its own reward.
Alison’s little story captures the hungry hearts that drive our great city and which drive Gotham today. The night she describes is about longing: firstly for love or at least companionship, then for the pleasure of dining, intensified perhaps by being out of her budget’s reach. She fulfills her needs with wine instead of food, a book instead of love, and in doing so finds, at least for a moment, what she’d been missing. Because she went out. Because she stayed out.
Alison, if you read this, we’ll re-open for Sundays soon, and our menu will be à la carte—including a Tarte Tatin for two. We’d love to make up for that missed dinner and hope that, with friend or book, you’ll be our guest.
Come together. Our lean but talented and dedicated front and back of house teams unite for a moment before Saturday’s dinner service.
Together Here. This magnificent work by Del Kathryn Barton looms over our revamped room. With its title written on one subject’s thigh, it calls for our post-pandemic world to get back out, to come together here at 12 East 12—a Gotham reopened in the name of beauty and communitas.
