Morimoto restaurant, Chelsea Market
Chelsea, Manhattan, New York
Sources checked October 2026
- Year
- 2006
- Architect
- Tadao Ando
- Type
- Restaurant (interior design)
- Access
- Restaurant closed in 2020
Opened on 31 January 2006 in Chelsea Market on Tenth Avenue, this restaurant by chef Masaharu Morimoto and restaurateur Stephen Starr marks Tadao Ando's debut in New York, where he designed the interior. A canopy of white fabric spanned the tables; a central staircase, lit by thousands of water bottles, led down to the basement bar.
History
The restaurant opened on 31 January 2006. The restaurateur Stephen Starr had chosen Ando while ruling out a concrete interior; he persuaded him to use softer materials. The fit-out cost 12 million dollars. In February 2020 it was announced that the restaurant would shut in May, when its lease expired; it closed during the pandemic.
Architecture
The entrance was a low arch closed by a red curtain, cut into the metal facade. Inside, a gently curved canopy of white fibreglass fabric spanned the tables. On the ground floor, the tables and a large sushi bar clustered around a central staircase; it descended to the basement bar and was lit by an installation of 17,400 water bottles fitted with LEDs. Glass and rice-paper partitions divided the spaces, and the columns, for their part, were exposed concrete.
Visiting
The restaurant closed in 2020: it is no longer open to the public.
Chelsea, Manhattan, New York
Greenhouses nearby
Sources (5)
- baunetz.de/meldungen/Meldungen_Restaurant_von_Ando_in_New_York_eroeffnet_22684.html
- bizbash.com/catering-design/food-trends/article/13224650/morimoto-opens-west-chelseas-late
- archiweb.cz/en/b/restaurant-morimoto
- ny1.com/nyc/manhattan/news/2020/02/12/morimoto-closing-chelsea-market-restaurant-location
- commercialobserver.com/2025/02/masaharu-morimoto-new-restaurant-1255-broadway