April 1, 2026 Parks, Restaurant/Bar News
The fifth annual Dinner on Duane — the al fresco dinner party fundraiser for Duane Park hosted on Duane Street for 175 people — is scheduled for September 13 and the good folks from Eulalie, the noted restaurant on West Broadway, will do the cooking.
Eulalie, run by husband and wife duo Chip Smith (in the kitchen) and Tina Vaughn (in the front of house), regularly receives accolades from all over the foodie world. They have three stars from The Times; are on the paper’s short list of the best restaurants in the city; and Tina recently received the Michelin Guide’s Service Award.
They are planning a French-meets-Southern American (Chip is from North Carolina) harvest dinner, with produce and eggs from Spruce Ridge Farms in Old Chatham.
Longtime Tribecan Amy Bonomi will once again be the event’s primary sponsor. The wine will come from from Tribeca Wine Merchants and Adrian Chalk Selections; Madeline Lanciani at Duane Park Patisserie will provide dessert; the flowers will come from Élan Flowers on Worth. Sponsors to date include 60 Hudson Owner LLC, Donadic Construction, Damon Liss Design, The Greenwich Hotel, Duane Park Lofts and Gene Schafer at Arc Athletics.
Eulalie opened in the former Bâtard/Montrachet space on West Broadway at the end of North Moore in December 2023. The couple’s previous restaurant, The Simone, also snagged three stars from Pete Wells. Their first restaurant was in Kitty Hawk, NC; Tina has a fun recollection of that in Wine&Spirits. (She’s a good writer, too.)
I must add that it’s no easy feat cooking for 175 outside on the street!
Dinner on Duane will begin with a reception at 4p in the park, followed by the three-course dinner served family-style. Tickets go on sale on June 1 at 9a and are $500 each, with a limit of two tickets per purchase. You can secure tickets earlier by buying a “Crowd of 6” for $6,000 starting today — though there is a limited number of those. Find tickets here.
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Love Eulalie, food is good but the service is what I totally respect and expect when dinning out. That said, I’ve been cutting back on eating out. Paying premium prices — and expected 20% tips — for inconsistent or underwhelming service and lower quality food against previous years just doesn’t sit right with me.
NYC has become extremely expensive, and at times the quality and diversity don’t measure up to other major global cities. It’s still an incredible food scene, but there’s clearly room for improvement.
At some point, the market will correct if expectations and value don’t realign. Expensive rents should have no correlation to rude service.