Beau Monde Owners Bid On Central Park’s Famed Tavern On the Green

OK. This is officially from the Department of Whoa, We Never Saw This One Coming. New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation is currently accepting bids for a 20-year license to operate a bar and restaurant on the site of the former Tavern On the Green, which for the majority of the 20th Century was a prime destination dining spot in Central Park but later became known as a bankrupt tourist trap.

Donald Trump passed. (“Nobody is going to go there,” he told the New York Times.) Drew Nieporent of Nobu expressed interest and took a tour, as did folks from the Oriental-Express hotels. But only two entities are known to have submitted formal bids: the company that does the catering at Yankee Stadium (bo-ring) and the people behind Philadelphia’s own Beau Monde, the popular Queen Village creperie. The Parks & Recreation Department won’t say how many other (if any) bids it has received. “We’ve made the short list,” confirms Beau Monde co-owner Jim Caiola, who declined to elaborate.