| The Beatrice Inn | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Location of The Beatrice Inn | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Closed | 2020; 5 years ago (2020) |
| Owner | Angie Mar |
| Head chef | Angie Mar |
| Location | 285 West 12th Street,New York City, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°44′16″N74°00′15″W / 40.7377°N 74.0041°W /40.7377; -74.0041 |
| Seating capacity | 125 |
| Reservations | Yes |
The Beatrice Inn was a restaurant and former nightclub inNew York City. It opened in the 1920s as aspeakeasy which became an Italian restaurant from the 1950s. From 2006 to 2009, it was a prominent nightclub but was shut down by law enforcement and reopened as a Spanish restaurant a year later. In 2012,Vanity Fair editorGraydon Carter assumed ownership of The Beatrice Inn. Carter sold the business to the restaurant'sexecutive chefAngie Mar in 2016. The restaurant closed in December 2020.
Established in the 1920s in theWest Village ofLower Manhattan inNew York City, The Beatrice Inn was originally aspeakeasy.[1] In the 1950s, owners Elsie and Ubaldo Cardia turned it into a restaurant serving Italian cuisine.[2] In late 2006, The Beatrice Inn was purchased by disk jockey Paul Sevigny,graffiti artistAndrew and restaurateur Matt Abramcyk.[3] It became a nightclub described byThe Wall Street Journal as "the default West Village boite for 'Page Six'-caliber starlets, enterprising NYU students, and fashion types."[4] In April 2009, it was raided and shut down by the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement, following numerous noise complaints from residents living near The Beatrice Inn.The New York Times also reported that the club owed $23,000 in fines.[5] Following its closure, a "Free the Beatrice Party" was organised by Sevigny at the nearby Cooper Square Hotel.[6] Sevigny also announced plans to open a new club and restaurant inSoHo.[5] In August 2015, Morgan Peterson ofHarper's Bazaar listed The Beatrice Inn as one of "New York's Most Historic Nightclubs".[7]
In 2010, the building was purchased and refurbished into a Spanishtapas restaurant by restaurateur Cobi Levy.[8] In July 2012, the restaurant was bought over byVanity Fair editor Graydon Carter with his partners Emil Varda and Brett Rasinski.[9] Carter sold The Beatrice Inn toexecutive chefAngie Mar in August 2016 and it was reopened in September 2016.[10] The Beatrice Inn closed in December 2020. The restaurant had four executive chefs from 2012 till its closure.[11][12] Brian Nasworthy left for Picholine in early 2013 and was replaced by Aaron Zebrook.[13] Angie Mar took over as executive chef in October 2013.[10]
In May 2013, Pete Wells ofThe New York Times awarded The Beatrice Inn zero stars out of four and described the menu as "awful" and "unremarkable".[13] In October 2016, after Mar bought over the restaurant, Wells revisited The Beatrice Inn and gave it a two-star review (meaning "very good"), praising her for making "the Beatrice Inn one of the most celebratory restaurants in the city."[11] In July 2017, Ryan Sutton, writing forEater, found that the restaurant had been "transformed from a bastion of social exclusivity into a financial one" and was critical of the exorbitant prices; he gave The Beatrice Inn one star out of four.[14] On the other hand, Shauna Lyon ofThe New Yorker, who also reviewed the restaurant in the same month, described it as a "buzzie foodie location" whose "menu is full of delicious, over-the-top bargains".[15] The Beatrice Inn was included in the Michelin Guide New York 2020, which wrote that its "flavors are big and bold but the richness of the meat is balanced by a judicious use of herbs and fruits."[16]