Flora Bar
Beyer Blinder Belle

The Met Breuer, Marcel Breuer’s Brutalist masterpiece on the Upper East Side—recently vacated by the Whitney Museum and now used by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to show modern and contemporary works—is the setting for the third restaurant from chef Ignacio Mattos and Thomas Carter. The team behind downtown darlings Estela and Café Altro Paradiso worked with Beyer Blinder Belle (which led the museum building’s restoration) to create a space that honors the original design while adding a touch of elegance for museum patrons and neighbors. A concrete-lined atrium, whose floor-to-ceiling windows overlook a courtyard, is softened with elements of walnut, bronze, and blackened steel; an inviting marble bar stretches along one wall. The food itself, much of it served in perfect squares and circles, at once reflects and tempers the building’s hard geometries—as if to say, See, it’s not so austere if it melts in your mouth. But the original design is mostly left alone. “Sometimes one of the greatest things to do in design is to do nothing,” says juror Michael Rock. “This is total restraint.” florabarnyc.com

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