Got a tour of Table 31, the Georges Perrier-Chris Scarduzio "steakhouse bistro" that opens softly on Thursday (5/22) with dinner. Lunch will start a week or so later.
Here's the dinner menu, revised 5/24/08.
Yessiree, this is big-ticket dining. But the prices actually may be a touch low by steakhouse standards, and they've wisely gone with assorted portion sizes. Scarduzio says he's running a 45-percent food cost on the steaks, which is about 5 percentage points above many similar operations. He's also sourcing meats from all over. (Steakhouses typically run the highest food costs in the industry, and make their profits on side dishes, drinks and desserts. Compare that to your run-of-the-mill Italian restaurant that can run quite profitably even on a 25-percent food cost.)
A bar menu (prices still unavailable Wednesday) will be priced lower, naturally.
Here are the wine-by-the-glass, signature cocktail and beer lists.
Table 31 is one of the larger newcomers in the city; it's more than 15,000 square feet over three levels, compared with Rae at 13,000 square feet. (It's smaller than Maia in Villanova, at 22,000 square feet, but that includes the marketplace and coffee bar.)
On the street level (main entrance on the 17th Street side between Arch and JFK), there's a two-story-tall bar (photos #1 and 2) next to a one-story dining room (photo #3). Note the 1970s browns and oranges.
There's a cozy lounge area (see the orange furniture grouping in photo #3) on the second floor that overlooks the bar (#4) , plus a second dining room (sexy, high-backed banquettes) and a high-tech conference room.
On the third level (not pictured) is a 250-seat banquet room that can be sectioned in two.
Table 31 has catering rights for the Comcast Center lobby, too.
I think the niftiest part of the project is outside on the JFK side of the Comcast Center: It'll be the Plaza Cafe, now shrouded behind an ugly chain-link fence. Scarduzio has installed a fully contained "outdoor" kitchen inside a glass building. By summer, there will be patio seating for lunch, dinner and drinkies beneath a trellis and beside a fountain. Among outdoor happy-hour spaces west of Broad Street, the debate of "which is best" will rage between this and the rooftop at Continental Mid-town.
Now for the photos.
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