The Leopard at des Artistes, Popular UWS Restaurant, Will Close This Month

By Gus Saltonstall

The Leopard at des Artistes, the popular white-tablecloth Italian restaurant, will close later this month on the Upper West Side.

The restaurant has served customers at 1 67th Street, between Columbus and Central Park West, within the Hotel des Artistes, since 2011.

“It is time to say goodbye. What an incredible journey it has been!” the restaurant wrote Tuesday on its Instagram. “THANK YOU!!!” The Leopard at des Artistes will serve its last meal on Sunday, February 15.

The restaurant is most famous, in many ways, for its large, glowing murals throughout the dining room. It has been run for the last 15 years by Gianfranco Sorrentino and his wife, Paula Bolla-Sorrentino, who also own the Midtown restaurant Il Gattopardo.

Prior to the Sorrentinos’ involvement, the restaurant was known as Cafe des Artistes, which closed in 2009 after operating for more than 90 years at the Upper West Side address.

Here’s how former New York Times restaurant critic William Grimes described Cafe des Artistes in a 2003 review:

“If ever a restaurant had fine, aristocratic bone structure it is Café des Artistes,” wrote Grimes. “Diners have only to take one step inside, and the tumultuous New York world outside disappears in a flash, replaced by lush floral displays, flattering lighting and Howard Chandler Christy’s pastel murals of naked beauties prancing through romantic landscapes.”

The restaurant first opened in 1917. At the time, the building was primarily home to artists, including Howard Chandler Christy, who painted the murals in 1934.

At this point, there is no information on what the space might become.

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