Frame Gourmet Eatery Brings Sushi, Salads, Soups, Sandwiches and Udon Noodles to 33rd Street, West of Ninth
Since the iconic Cheyenne Diner closed on the corner of West 33rd Street and Ninth Avenue, there’s been a gap in the foodservice offerings on the block until you reach Tenth Avenue and Seattle Café. In March that’s going to change with the opening of the 2,700 square-foot Frame Gourmet Eatery on the south side of the block. Located in the fully refurbished 424 West 33rd Street office building, it will offer a wide range of fresh daily fare to the thousands of office workers in the surrounding large buildings.
Jinbae Park, Professor of Interior Design at FIT, is the highly-qualified consultant in charge of construction and management. His previous design project was Silo Café, on East 32nd Street in Murray Hill. This sleek eatery will be familiar to moviegoers when they see the new movie “Duplicity” starring Julia Roberts, as some scenes were shot there.
Jinbae’s inspiration for Frame comes from the décor and the many food stations he has planned for the street level space. The clean, uncluttered black and white tile walls and stainless steel surfaces will be accented with natural pine planking, which will have the effect of “framing” the various counters and displays, like still life in an art gallery. However, Jinbae is expecting the life inside the cafe to be far from still, given the tremendous demand for good quality fare from the very large local office population.
Entering the cafe through the tall glass doors, the first station to meet the eye will be a sushi bar where cooks will also be ready to prepare fresh udon noodles and rice bowls – “bibimbop.” A display case, with pre-made sandwiches, paninis for grilling, wraps, cakes and cookies, will also offer bagels in the morning, alongside the beverage station, which will also feature espresso and specialty coffees. A fresh fruit display will also provide the ingredients for a fresh-squeezed juice bar. Next along is the toss-your-own-salad bar where guests can choose their toppings and dressings for their crisp greens.
Center stage will be a large cold salad unit with more self-serve hot options around the walls and soup-wells offering five daily soups and chowders. At the end of the line there will be a hot and cold custom sandwich station with a salamander and bain-marie holding hot vegetables, meats, grilled chicken and Italian specialties, such as parmigiana.
Construction has taken about five months to completion. While Jinbae expects that most customers will either take their food out or order up, there will be seating for about 20 guests. This will be arranged along the ceiling-height windows looking out to 33rd Street and in booths near the servery.
In Jinbae’s words, “The people working and living around here deserve a well-designed place like this. It’s a very good neighborhood to do business. Building ownership has been very helpful and supportive; Jim Tozer and Raju Shah, the owners, really are wonderful people.”
Frame Gourmet Eatery will open 6am – 6pm, Monday through Friday, 424 West 33rd Street; phone: 212-273-3730; fax: 212-273-3740.
