NEW YORK Twenty-year-old San Domenico NY, one of the city’s first fine-dining Italian restaurants, will close its current location before the lease expires on June 30.
Founder Tony May said he is in the process of negotiating leases for new locations in midtown Manhattan. May said he needed a site that would allow him to generate annually the $9 million to $11 million needed to survive in New York’s tough economic climate.
“The small guys are going under,” he said.
The new restaurant would be more casual, “but still elegant,” May said, with banquet facilities and a bar that would serve small plates.
“By moving San Domenico, we are going to have a much more contemporary and modern design. The food and appointments will reflect that,” he said, noting that customers would feel comfortable not wearing a coat and tie.
Admitting the restaurant had “fallen into kind of a stagnant position here,” May said the new location would help return San Domenico to “a driving force in the evolution of Italian cuisine in this country.
“I am very confident and comfortable that this decision is the right one,” he said.
May said the restaurant would likely close around June 18.