I will go by soon to check it out, but in the meantime, thanks to A. for grabbing two seats at the bar and providing these shots.

Faux, the debut project of the young (22) George McNally — Keith McNally’s son by his second wife — has opened in the former Shigure Sake Bar space at 277 Church between Franklin and White as a brasserie not unlike his father’s hotspots (Pastis, Balthazar, Lucky Strike). They describe the cuisine as “French coastal” on the ground floor with a bar downstairs in the former B Flat space.

George took me on a tour (I introduced myself while he was taking a break outside) a few months ago when the space was a construction site — he’s preserved the vaulted ceilings downstairs and expanded the dining space upstairs; the goal was to feel like it had always been there.

He’s young, but he’s spent the past four years working at Balthazar and studying the form; before that he was a high school dropout who started at 16 as a dishwasher at Elephant & Castle in London. His father’s longtime designer, Ian McPheely, and architect, Richard Lewis, designed Faux. Much of the furniture is cast-offs from his father’s places.

The chef is Kristina Ramos, who George met when she consulted on Keith’s opening of a new Pastis in Washington, DC in 2024. See is Filipino-American, raised here, and has worked at l’abeille along with other starred places.

Upstairs is open seven days; downstairs is Tuesdays to Saturday. Reservations are on OpenTable; walk-ins are welcome.

Of course Keith’s first shot at restaurants was The Odeon, which he founded with his brother, and his then-wife Lynn Wagenknecht in 1980; the restaurant is still owned by Lynn. (She also has Cafe Cluny, which should be on your list for when you are north of Canal).

Keith’s former chefs Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson would go on to open Frenchette here in 2018, and then in 2020 take over Arcade Bakery. So this is all just part of that excellent McNally lineage.

More TK.