What's New Around Bryant Park This Fall, From the Newsstand to the Omakase Counter

The newsstand at 2 West 42nd Street, at the corner of Sixth Avenue, used to sell newspapers and magazines. Since Saturday, August 8, the same small structure has been making sandwiches. It is now Little Biggs, from Little Food Co., the operator behind Dos Pasos, City Chik and several food-hall stalls. Eater NY lists eggy burritos, a crispy chicken Caesar wrap and vodka chicken Parm on the menu. Cititour reports that the footprint now serves made-to-order breakfast sandwiches, heroes and wraps.

Most of this fall's changes around the park follow the same pattern. The biggest openings within a few blocks of Bryant Park moved into rooms that were already there. That includes a newsstand, a taproom's daytime hours, the space Aureole once held, and a corner of Grand Central's Main Concourse. The street projects nearby are still being proposed or designed, or are scheduled for years from now.

A Newsstand, Then a Taproom

Little Biggs is the smallest example. The next one is on the south side of the park. At 22 West 40th Street, Fönn shares its room with TALEA Bryant Park, a craft taproom. Eater NY reports that the café serves coffee and matcha from 7:30 a.m., and TALEA's beer takes over later in the day. Fönn's launch announcement describes the setup as a daytime operation running during the hours the taproom is normally closed. It is a Nordic-style café built around skyr, the Icelandic-style yogurt. It comes from founder Lauren Huff and chef Baldur Smári Sævarsson, who works at Restaurant Daniel. The same announcement gave its opening as late September 2026.

The menu has skyr bowls, smoothies, toasted sandwiches, matcha and coffee. Its hours are short and early. Fönn's own site lists 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends, so it is a breakfast and lunch stop that closes by mid-afternoon.

Aureole's Room, Now Three Restaurants

Little Biggs is the smallest of the reused spaces, and Aureole's former room on the north side of 42nd Street is the largest. Inside the Bank of America Tower at 135 West 42nd Street, restaurateur KwangHo Lee has turned the former Aureole space into One Bryant Park. Eater NY describes it as a Japanese dining destination of about 10,000 square feet. Crain's New York Business reported in September that Lee was bringing three restaurants to the Durst Organization's tower, and its photo showed a 20-seat bar.

The three restaurants are very different sizes:

The main dining room offers both à la carte and a tasting menu that applies French technique to Japanese ingredients. Kumiko Room is an omakase sushi counter. Kappo Sono, a kaiseki counter, is moving here from its previous location. Eater reports that the drink list will include more than 500 sake and French wine selections, along with Japanese whisky and cocktails. All three restaurants share one address. In the same space, there is now a 150-seat dining room, a 14-seat counter and a 10-seat counter, with the smallest one still to open.

The Smaller Openings Nearby

The rest of the new openings within a few blocks are smaller, and several come from operators who already run places elsewhere.

• Hushh, 55 West 38th Street. A bar from the team behind Antidote. The Infatuation describes cocktails and Asian small plates such as pork cheek and bao, with every menu item priced at $18 or less.
• Piadi by La Piadineria, 1040 Sixth Avenue at West 39th Street. Opened September 23. It is the Italian fast-casual chain's second New York location.
• Dram Central, 14 East 44th Street near Madison Avenue. Opened August 7. It is an expansion from the team behind Brandy Library in Tribeca.
• The Granola Bar, 330 Madison Avenue near East 43rd Street. A Midtown flagship and a nearby takeout shop opened Thursday, July 9. The brand was founded in Connecticut and, per Eater, has 10 locations in the tri-state area.

These four openings span almost every price point and every part of the day. Together they mean that the walk from the park to Madison Avenue now has a new place for early coffee, a quick lunch and a drink after work, all within a few blocks.

Grand Central's Corner Is Still Coming Soon

The largest reused space in the area hasn't opened yet. Vizz Group, which already runs the 400-seat Grand Brasserie in Vanderbilt Hall, is building two new places in the southwest corner of Grand Central Terminal. Time Out New York reported the details in September.

The first is Osteria Centrale, a 250-seat Italian restaurant designed by Rockwell Group. It will take up nearly 7,000 square feet, with a 50-seat oblong bar at its center, and will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. The entrance will be on the Main Concourse near the stairs to 42nd Street. The second is Mercato Centrale, a gourmet market open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. It will carry more than 500 products and have self-checkout. From 7 to 11 a.m., La Colombe coffee will cost $1. Secret NYC places the market by the ramp to 42nd Street, close to Vanderbilt Plaza.

As of mid-October, the official pages for Osteria Centrale and Mercato Centrale still say "coming soon," with no opening date. Kappo Sono and the Grand Central pair are the main openings still to come this season.

The Park's Own Seasonal Switch

The park goes through the same kind of change every year. The Bank of America Winter Village is in its 25th season, and Time Out New York counts more than 180 shops this year. The schedule, per Bryant Park's Winter Village page and the Holiday Shops page:

1. The Holiday Shops open at noon on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, and run through January 3, 2027.
2. The Rink is open daily from October 28, 2026, through February 28, 2027. Admission is free, and skates can be rented.
3. Children under 14 need an adult with them. Phones, headphones, bags, food and drinks are not allowed on the ice, and neither are spins, jumps or skating backward.

Time Out also lists Club Santa on November 28 and 29 and December 5 and 6, followed by Santa's Corner from December 14 through 18. Before that, NYC Parks lists free Le Carrousel Extravaganza events on Monday, November 2, and Wednesday, November 4, both from 11 a.m. to noon.

The Street Projects Are Further Off

The street-level projects nearby are moving more slowly than the restaurants. On NYC DOT's current projects list, sidewalk widening and permanent pedestrian-security upgrades on West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues are marked as proposed. A shared street on 43rd Street between Lexington and Third Avenues is marked as in design. Neither entry gives a completion date. A few blocks west, the Port Authority's Midtown Bus Terminal project includes new public open space, but its first phase is estimated for 2029.

That timing explains this fall. The changes a nearby resident will actually notice this year are indoors and already open, or close to it. Little Biggs is serving out of the newsstand, Fönn hands TALEA's room back to the taproom after 2 p.m., and Kumiko Room's 14 seats are open inside the Bank of America Tower. Kappo Sono's ten seats are expected in mid-November.

If you're weighing a sale or a purchase in the blocks around Bryant Park and want to know what this year's changes mean for a specific building, Carol Staab can talk it through with you, privately. Work With Carol.