NYCs sexiest new restaurant is where youd least expect it

Surprise! The tainted West Chelsea/Meatpacking District location that was once home to disgraced Del Posto and the unappealing Al Coro has been reborn as Crane Club — and it’s a total knockout. The sexy and beautiful new place at 85 Tenth Ave., across from Chelsea Market, blows away foul memories of its pretentious predecessor on the site, Al Coro — which lasted a mere eighteen months.It even made me forget Del Posto, Mario Batali’s Italian palace that was there first for sixteen golden years until it closed in 2021 in the wake of sexual assault allegations against the celebrity chef.

Unlike its pricier precursors, Crane Club has an accessible, a la carte menu that smoothly mixes and matches steakhouse, Italian and modern-American favorites.“We wanted to appeal to a larger audience,” chef/partner Melissa Rodriguez explained.But Rodriguez provides continuity with the best of the old places too.

She ran Del Posto’s kitchen in its final years and Al Coro’s as well.Her splendid, mostly Italian cooking at the latter was smothered by the house’s goofy shtick — distracting, dinner-theater musical performances on a mezzanine and a bank account-busting, prix-fixe format with no printed menus.

(Bombastic waiters announced dishes as if presenting lifetime achievement awards).The venue’s ownership has also changed twice.Rodriguez and managing partner Jeff Katz are now teamed up with Tao Group, which has its finger on the pulse of public taste.

She chuckled that her “unusual situation” of running her third restaurant in the same space strikes her as “sometimes weird and sometimes brilliant.” (Her popular pizza spot, Mel’s, in the same building closed on Jan.31 for reasons that remain unclear.)Undeniably brilliant is the redesign.

The previous restaurants dwelled in a voluminous void that felt near-empty even when full.A new, sleek-but-cozy walled-off bar resembling a luxury train’s dining car cuts the dining room down to a more hum...