Tadao Ando's first project in New York — Morimoto Restaurant — is now open for business

Tell you what: I'm going there for the concrete, not the food.

I have read so much about this celebrated architect's affinity for concrete, his ability to make of it a substance nearly other-worldly, that I simply must rest my cheek against it in homage when I finally visit.

Aric Chen wrote about the new restaurant in the February 9 New York Times "Currents" feature in the House & Home section, as follows:

The celebrated Japanese architect Tadao Ando has completed his first project in New York: Morimoto restaurant at 88 10th Avenue (16th Street).

Named after its chef, Masaharu Morimoto (a k a the Iron Chef), the $12 million restaurant features ceilings draped in undulating fiberglass-reinforced canvas, evoking the raked gravel of Zen rock gardens; furniture by Ross Lovegrove; a traditional noren curtain and Mr. Ando's signature use of concrete.

The lighting, including a wall of L.E.D.-illuminated water bottles [below] is by Arnold Chan.



"Mr. Ando wanted something serene," said Stephanie Goto of Goto Design Group in New York, which collaborated on the project, "a Japanese sensibility without being overtly Japanese."