The former location of Big Nick’s will become a French bakery next year, when New York bakery chain Mille-Feuille moves into 700 square feet of the old restaurant, DNAinfo reported today. The famous diner closed this year after 51 years, after the Hotel Belleclaire hiked its rent.
Mille-Feuille — named after the dessert that layers puff pastry and cream, aka a Napoleon — will operate out of 700 square feet but have enough room for about 20 seats and an ADA-compliant bathroom, [owner Olivier] Dessyn said.
He’s hoping the bakery can also use the back terrace for outdoor seating.
“We have a variety of lunch options. We mostly do quiches, sandwiches and savory croissants,” he said of the menu.
Mille-Feuille is expected to open in March. The Hotel Belleclaire has proposed to reconstruct its entire Broadway street frontage, likely pushing out the existing news and bra businesses.
Learn more about Mille-Feuille here.
Big Nick’s had held out hope of moving, possibly further utopwn, but he hasn’t gotten back to us lately on how those efforts are going. Check out our photos of video of Big Nick’s last night here.
I thought they needed the space for larger lobby to bring it up to code……
Talk about getting messed over. What a disgrace. The buzz was that Big Nick’s was forced out of its space because the hotel wanted to add a bar. In order to do that, the hotel allegedly needed to close the entrance on 77th st because it was too close to a church.
Now we know the truth. What we suspected all along. The hotel owners just used the zoning as a way to get rid of Big Nick’s. Nick’s just wouldn’t fit with the upscale look of the hotel and the neighborhood.
It is truly a bleeping shame. Nick’s and other business were there when nobody wanted to run a business on the UWS. Now that its fashionable, Nick’s and the other pioneers get kicked to the curb.
Boycott the new French pastry shop. Let them eat hot dogs. At least Gray’s Papaya is still around. But, like everything else on the UWS — for how much longer?
I clicked on the link to the site of this company. It is a small business, the owner has one other location. I thought everyone wanted more small businesses on the UWS. It could’ve been another global chain with more outlets popping up everywhere like Le Pain Quotidian or yet another yogurt spot but fortunately it is a small local business.
I hope the bakery adds another “community space” for people. But I am very upset that the hotel owner appeared to have done a run-around. I’m going to inquire with CB7 to see what they approved and didn’t approve, and what they’re understanding was.
Don’t blame the business moving in. You’d rather the space sat empty?
Millefeuille is actually a really great bakery and the owner is super nice. I think it will be a good addition.
Similar to how a square of uncleaned ceiling was left at Grand Central for us all to remember what the terminal was like before the massive renovation, I hope the bakery owner will have a framed menu or something from Nick’s behind the counter to somehow mark this historic, cultural icon of the neighborhood.
Why all this love for Big Nick’s? The place was a dump and an ADD paradise. Remember the signs on the walls? Nick was totally in shock when it closed. The food was horrible and so unhealthy. No one from the neighborhood had set foot in it in years. It was mostly visited by guests from the hotel upstairs. Even deliveries had fallen off. The UWS has changed.