Renowned chef Marc Murphy is shaking up New York City’s restaurant scene with a new space that is only open for a few days each month.
MARC179, located at 179 West Broadway, opened its doors in Tribeca last month. Unlike a traditional restaurant, Murphy told amNewYork Metro that MARC179 is only going to be open three days a month.
“I do these TV shows and I see a lot of people and I used to have five restaurants in Manhattan. People are always bugging me going, ‘I wanna go to your restaurant. Why don’t you have a restaurant?’ And I gotta tell you right now, I’m not really interested in opening a new restaurant,” said Murphy. “It’s just so difficult to do what I do. When you’re in a restaurant, you basically handcuff yourself to the place and you can’t leave, and I do so many other things.”
Murphy had already been using the space at MARC179 as a private event space for the past year, so he thought this was the perfect place to hold a monthly pop-up restaurant.
“This is really the only way that I can be sure that I’m gonna be here and I can still be creative and have fun with it and see the public,” said Murphy. “People that want to eat here or my old customers and whatnot. So we decided to do this and it was just a fun thing to do.”
Each month, MARC179 is offering a $75 four-course menu that will change monthly, alongside a curated wine program. The menus will highlight fresh, seasonal ingredients with elements of Chef Murphy’s background, particularly his childhood and as an adult in Italy and his traditional French culinary training.
The very first menu at MARC179 included an Arugula Salad with pan-fried artichoke, and sweet garlic vinaigrette; Cacio e Pepe; Roast Chicken Breast with mushroom, grilled filone, lardon, and chicken jus; and a Chocolate Mousse with bourbon whipped cream for dessert.
“My idea is to cook very seasonally and to cook with regular ingredients. No, I’m not going to start putting foie gras and truffles and lobster on the menu because, obviously, at that price point, I can’t, but I want to take like lamb shank and make it taste really good,” said Murphy. “I just feel like it was time to sort of get back into it and have fun. My wine list is very small but very accessible.”
Though reservations are recommended, Murphy encourages walk-ins to come and check out the restaurant as well. Murphy hopes that those who come to MARC179 not only have a great experience, but also get introduced to the space as a whole.
“I’m looking forward to sort of introducing the space to other people that might want to do private events as well. We actually booked two parties from the first pop-up where people came in and they’re like, oh my gosh, this is great, I could rent this out for my birthday,” said Murphy. “I think this introduces people to my food again in a certain sense and knowing that I can do whatever you want.”
Though it has only been open twice so far, Murphy says that MARC179 has been very well received by those who have dined there.
“It’s what I love about the restaurant business. It’s getting people together and enjoying themselves and forgetting about whatever is going on somewhere else and getting together with friends,” said Murphy.
MARC179 will be open again May 16-18, June 20-22 and July 25-27, with seatings from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. each night. Stay up to date on the latest from MARC179 by following @marc179nyc on Instagram. For more information or to make a reservation, visit chefmarcmurphy.com/marc-179.
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