Café Chelsea Review - Chelsea - New York - The Infatuation (2024)

Café Chelsea is one celebrity sighting short of a certified scene. Each time a host ushers someone through the booth-filled bar area into one of the dining rooms, people look up from their shrimp co*cktails, as if they expect to see Bob Dylan, or Patti Smith—or any of the other poets and musicians who once frequented the Hotel Chelsea—walk in and take a seat under an abstract canvas from the hotel's collection of art, mostly by former artists in residence.

The hotel has famously drawn New York’s hardest-living bohemians since it opened in the late 19th century, from the poet Dylan Thomas who died of alcohol poisoning while living here, to punk Nancy Spungen (from Sid and Nancy), who bled out in a bathroom. Leonard Cohen hooked up with Janis Joplin in the elevator, and Andy Warhol shot a film called Chelsea Girls. This anchor of 23rd Street was possibly the most written-about—and definitely the most sung-about—hotel in the world before it switched off its neon sign around 2011.

The hotel opened under new ownership in 2022, setting the scene with Lobby Bar, followed by Café Chelsea. This is no holding area for a continental breakfast buffet. The Art Deco restaurant is a revived cornerstone for the neighborhood, and a destination for a new generation of gossip.

We’ve heard it called the “new Balthazar” which isn’t quite accurate—it feels a little more approachable—but Café Chelsea does follow the NYC brasserie template of French food in a restaurant that feels old but isn’t (it formerly housed a bait-and-tackle shop). With mirrors on every wall, it's built for people-watching.

So, who’s actually here? Teens sharing post-swim burgers with their dad, tourists eating oysters and steak frites, and a pair of Gucci-draped ladies who refer to the hotel’s tapas restaurant (El Quijote) as “El Coyote” while working through exactly one Diet co*ke, one branzino, and one artichoke each, peeling artichoke leaves with the tips of their manicured nails, and taking very small bites, so as not to mess up their lipstick.

Celebs or not, it's a prime “who’s who” of NYC, juicy with the promise of gossip. Come here with that one person who shares your secret language for restaurant commentary—but don’t be surprised if you wind up deep in a relationship discussion with the couple sitting next to you, or even sharing a bite of your neighbor’s maitake au poivre. At Café Chelsea’s close-set tables, you don't just eavesdrop on the conversation around you—you join in.

Don’t come here for the briefly internet-famous ravioles du dauphiné (just screenshot our photo below)—the food is good, and some things are better than they need to be, but it’s not the main draw. Still, the black coffee at breakfast is bottomless, the omelets are perfectly turned out, and every time we’ve eaten here, we’ve been persuaded to order dessert, just to linger a little longer.