After almost twenty years on the Upper East Side, Aureole is moving to the soon-to-be-finished One Bryant Park. The reason for the move? “Our brownstone’s never going to grow, and I’d like a kitchen with islands,” says owner Charlie Palmer. In its new address, things will be less formal. “I used to think that if someone wasn’t wearing a jacket, that it did something harmful to the restaurant,” he says. “But the formality of New York has changed since I opened in 1988—people wear T-shirts to three-star restaurants!” And though the building, with its recycled-water urinals, is marketed as being “green,” he admits that he identifies more with the blue-chip corporate neighbors. “Am I a green guy? Probably not,” he says.

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Emma Rosenblum
• Table of Contents: May 14, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!