Danny Meyer’s restaurant North End Grill is closing at the end of the year, more than six years after the American-French restaurant first opened in Battery Park City, the restaurant confirms. The Union Square Hospitality Group restaurant at 104 North End Avenue opened in 2012 with chef Floyd Cardoz at the helm, making it one of the few more ambitious restaurants to open in the neighborhood. Since then, more food options have popped up in the area, such as an outpost of Eataly and all the Brookfield Place food vendors. But despite Meyer’s heft, North End Grill largely remained a neighborhood restaurant for residents and business folk — never quite drawing the lasting citywide acclaim that many of Meyer’s other businesses have, even though the Times awarded it two stars under Cardoz and another two under succeeding executive chef Eric Korsh.

Most recently, the restaurant hit the spotlight for allegations of sexual misconduct against Korsh, who left the restaurant at the end of 2017. An Eater investigation found that since Korsh started at North End Grill in 2014, staffers had reported him to human resources for inappropriate behavior such as unwelcome massages for employees. Multiple staffers alleged that USHG kept the chef in spite of repeated complaints. Korsh denied the accusations. USHG declined to say why it is closing North End Grill, only noting in a statement that it’s come “after much thought and discussion.” Now — and for the rest of the year — new executive chef Emily Brekke is running the kitchen. With most of the year left, Brekke will “have some fun and take some risks” with the menu, which will shift in the coming weeks, though there are no details on what her version will look like, according to USHG. It’s not common for Meyer, who’s been in the business for more than 30 years, to completely close a restaurant. His first closure was Tabla, an Indian restaurant from Cardoz that ran for 12 years before ending service in 2010. Earlier this year, he also shuttered his Chicago restaurant. But beyond that, Meyer has either sold or relocated other businesses in the empire. North End Grill closes at the end of 2018. – Source: Eater NY