Lincoln Square Got the Upper West Side's Big New Rooms This Fall

"This was a creation, not a renovation," Daniel Boulud told the New York Post about Brasserie Boulud. It opened at 1900 Broadway on October 8 and took over the spaces that once held Boulud Sud, Bar Boulud and Épicerie Boulud. Three rooms became one large one. Eleven days later and two blocks south, La Pecora Bianca opened what the Lincoln Square BID calls its largest location, at 61 Columbus Avenue.

Between September and early November, the Upper West Side sorted by size. The large rooms, the supermarket and the new playing fields are collecting in the few blocks around Lincoln Center. Up the avenues, the storefronts changing hands are small, and many of the new tenants are run by the people who started them.

What's open and what's coming below 72nd Street

Here is the southern end as it stands this week, including the projects still on the way. All of it sits within about ten blocks:

The two big openings bring their own menus to the corner. Time Out's first look at Brasserie Boulud listed seafood towers, French onion soup, steak frites, lobster soufflé, boudin blanc and the returning DB Burger. The Post priced that burger at $25 and also pointed to the duck à l'orange. At La Pecora Bianca, founder Mark Barak told the BID he wanted the location to build on the brand while still feeling new. The Lincoln Square menu adds a local burrata, an autumn pizza, squash mafaldine, short-rib trecce and swordfish cacciatore.

Built around a curtain time

Lincoln Square can support rooms this large because the theaters across the street keep them busy. Dinex is the restaurant company behind Brasserie Boulud. In the opening announcement, its CEO, Sebastien Silvestri, said the restaurant was meant to match Lincoln Center's cultural energy. The Post reported that lunch service hadn't started in the first weeks and that outdoor seating is planned for spring. So the restaurant started with evenings, which is when the plaza fills.

The two restaurants keep different hours. On its Lincoln Square page, La Pecora Bianca lists lunch from 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, service until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and dinner only on weekends, starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Brasserie Boulud's schedule is still settling, so call before you plan around it.

Plenty is on stage this month to fill those tables. The Paul Taylor Dance Company is at the David H. Koch Theater through November 22. The season includes repertory works, world premieres and a New York premiere, according to West Side Rag. The David Rubenstein Atrium, which Lincoln Center describes as a home for free performances and programming, has a busy run of evenings this week.

The block is getting its missing pieces

A restaurant cluster draws people for dinner. Lincoln Square is also adding the things people need on an ordinary weekday.

The biggest one is groceries. Wegmans signs have hung at 1932 Broadway since June 2024 without any sign of work behind them. On October 28, spokesperson Mandee Puleo confirmed to West Side Rag that the company is designing the store and getting permits, and that "the opening timeline is yet to be determined."

Next is the waterfront. The last phase of Riverside Park South, around West 62nd Street, finishes a waterfront park that has been underway for 30 years on former New York Central Railroad yards. Developers of the Riverside Boulevard buildings agreed to build the park in exchange for approvals, and its first phase opened 25 years ago. This phase has turf marked for two softball and baseball fields plus 7-on-7 and 9-on-9 soccer, along with a basketball court and three pickleball courts. It also brings lights for night games, which West Side Rag reports is a first for Riverside Park. Debbie Kling, longtime president of West Side Little League, told the Rag that the extra space will help most on Friday afternoons and evenings and Saturday afternoons. Pedro Rafael of West Side Soccer League called the field "tremendously significant to us." Thomas Balsley has designed the park since before its 1991 approvals, and he still calls it "the interim park." A planned pavilion with concessions near West 66th Street was cut as costs rose.

The third piece is a dining room with a long history. As Eater reported, restaurateurs Ariel Arce and Max Katzenberg are reopening Café des Artistes at 1 West 67th Street, and West Side Rag puts the return in early 2027. Smaller businesses are filling in around these projects. At Lucia Pizza, co-owner Dylan Schwartz told West Side Rag he wanted the shop to be "more than just a place to eat" and to work as a neighborhood social hub. Café Alon's owner described it to West Side Rag as a "high end kosher Mediterranean cafe experience."

Farther north, the storefronts got smaller

Above 72nd Street, the same weeks went differently. Jake's Dilemma at 430 Amsterdam Avenue closed October 18 after 32 years, saying it had lost its lease. Several chain counters closed too. Sweetgreen left 311 Amsterdam Avenue, Chip City closed at 370 Columbus Avenue when the chain shut down nationwide, Blank Street Coffee closed at Broadway and West 86th Street on October 10, and the McDonald's at 2726 Broadway closed October 31.

Most of what opened in their place is small and run by its founders, according to West Side Rag's openings coverage:

• Aperture, a free public gallery, bookshop and event space at 380 Columbus Ave., a few doors from the former Chip City. Executive director Sarah Meister told West Side Rag it is a place where visitors can sit and read.
• TALEA Beer Co. at 441 Amsterdam Ave., one block from the old Jake's Dilemma. Co-founder Tara Hankinson says the brewery aims to take craft beer "beyond the beer bros."
• Kine Musubi, a Hawaiian musubi shop at 128 W. 72nd St. co-founded by Hawaii-raised Chi Ian Chan.
• Velvet Cowboy, a Western-themed bar in the former Jacob's Pickles space at 509 Amsterdam Ave.
• Mr. Byrdie's Joint at 998 Amsterdam Ave. near West 110th Street. Co-founder Jae said she was happy to help bring more locally owned shops to the neighborhood.

A November evening that uses both ends

Thursday, November 12 is a good night to cover both halves. The American Folk Art Museum at 2 Lincoln Square is running "Locating Girlhood," a free exhibition on young women left out of American art history, through February 28, 2027. Its artist-led embroidery workshop is scheduled for November 12. That evening at 7:30, the Atrium hosts "The Precipice," a reading of a new musical with Laura Benanti and Lorna Courtney. Brasserie Boulud and La Pecora Bianca are both a short walk from the plaza.

The rest of the month, on the Lincoln Center calendar and around the corner:

1. Friday, November 13, 7:30 p.m. Salsa with Luisito Gómez & Calle 107 at the Atrium.
2. Sunday, November 15, 1 p.m. An all-ages graffiti mural workshop with DAZE at the Atrium. That same Sunday, the American Museum of Natural History lists an OrigamiUSA session.
3. Through Sunday, November 22. The Paul Taylor season continues at the Koch Theater.
4. Wednesday, November 25, 1 to 6 p.m. Macy's Parade Balloon Inflation fills the streets around the Museum of Natural History, with access at West 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue, according to the city's event listing. West 72nd is the line between the two halves described above, and TALEA and Aperture are a few blocks north of it.

At JTC Team, we follow block-by-block changes like a Wegmans opening at West 64th Street or lighted fields at West 62nd, because they affect how a home in Lincoln Square is priced and presented. If you own nearby and want to know how this fall's openings bear on your apartment's value, we'll walk you through it. Let's connect and request a home valuation.