Time was when the phrase “triangle below Canal Street” meant little even to native New Yorkers, and for good reason: The part of town delineated by the phrase was largely a collection of abandoned warehouses. But that all changed in 1990 when actor Robert DeNiro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent acquired a large tract of real estate in that no-man’s land and converted it to a restaurant. Its name, borrowed from the acronymization of the phrase “triangle below Canal Street,” was Tribeca Grill, and soon it became a buzzword to New York’s restaurant-going public.
But the Tribeca Grill, which served its last meal last Saturday, was more than just a restaurant. It was a destination — a place to see and be seen. Part of the reason for its magnetism was its star power. As partners in his restaurant venture, De Niro had recruited the likes of Sean Penn, Bill Murray, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ed Harris, and Christopher Walken. In short order, the restaurant became a celebrity hangout frequented by De Niro’s Hollywood friends when they were in town. It was a glimpse of them as much as it was the food that lured many who coveted an elusive reservation.
The Tribeca Grill was unique in that it had a rejuvenative effect not on just the property at the corner of Greenwich and Franklin Streets, but on the community at large. A Tribeca address became one of the most exclusive and priciest in the city.
It seems only fitting that Tribeca Grill’s last dinner service was to a packed house. At age 35, it was was still feeling its oats.
