
Brooklyn BBQer finds Manhattan digs

WILLIAMSBURG & MIDTOWN — BROOKLYN RESTAURANTEUR BILLY DURNEY, known for Hometown Bar-B-Que and Red Hook Tavern, is venturing into fine dining with a new Manhattan restaurant at 9 West 57th St., previously home to Brasserie 8 1/2.
Durney, 52, once a celebrity bodyguard, aims to bring his vision of unpretentious yet high-quality food to Midtown, with a menu focused on live-fire grilling. Anticipated to open next year, the restaurant will offer a “warm, cozy and sexy” atmosphere near the Plaza Hotel.
The project, part of Kent Hospitality Group’s expansion following the death of Jamal James Kent, its founder and a friend of Durney’s, reflects the chef’s desire to create a restaurant that appeals to all walks of life.
“It’s going to be a real New York restaurant,” Durney said to the New York Times. “I want the hip-hop people, and the readers and writers, and the ladies who lunch.”
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