Tom Colicchio's Fowler & Wells Now Open

Tom Colicchio and his team have hopped the train to City Hall, and tonight they are opening their new restaurant, Fowler & Wells, in The Beekman. Inspired by the 19th-century building, the restaurant has a historical bent; it's named for an old tenant of the building Fowler & Wells Phrenological Cabinet, and a number of the dishes on the tasting menu are modern adaptations of dishes that were popular in New York during that century, like lobster thermidor and beef Wellington. "I think of this as old New York modernized," Colicchio tells the Times.

There is also an à la carte menu with sautéed foie gras and persimmons, rabbit schnitzel with pistachios, and a chicory and pear salad. And for those looking for a cocktail before the meal, the team is also opening a bar and lounge in the hotel's nine-story atrium.

This far downtown hasn't been a dining destination in recent memory, but that is starting to change. Colicchio is one of the first of a number of chefs planning Financial District restaurants, including David Chang, who is opening a restaurant in the Seaport, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who is working on a food hall right near by. Eataly and the tenants at Hudson Yards like José Andrés have also joined the Downtown team. Meanwhile, Colicchio will have company from another familiar face right next door. Keith McNally, the restaurateur who gave New York Balthazar and Pastis, is opening Augustine, the hotel's other restaurant, sometime soon.