Part 3 of 6: No man's land to NoMad: The invention of a neighborhood

Part 3 of 6: Gastro-Mad: Built on Food It has been said that fashion follows food, and the story of this neighborhood would be incomplete without mention of it. There are countless restaurants hiding within plain sight. Danny Meyer was undeniably a pioneer in creating several destination restaurants that deserve credit for helping put NoMad on the map. Shake Shack opened in Madison Square Park in 2004, drawing lines of people waiting an hour to buy an $8 cheeseburger. Across the way on the beginning of Madison Ave. he instituted Eleven Madison Park, which continues to be a Michelin-rated success, along with Tabla, a groundbreaking Indian fusion eatery that was ahead of its time. In 2006, A Voce opened at 41 Madison Ave. & 26th St. to much adulation and has since added a Time Warner Center annex. SD26 opened at 16 East 26th across from the park in 2009, a contemporary Italian restaurant from the former San Domenico team. At 238 Fifth Ave. there's Illili (pronounced EE-LILY) that serves Lebanese dishes in a cavernous, sexy space. Dos Caminos on 375 Park Ave. South was one of the first of several successful haute-Mexican locations for the B.R. Guest group. The Ace features an on-premise Michelin-starred restaurant, The Breslin Bar and Dining Room, which is operated by Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield, the same winning team who created The Spotted Pig gastropub. The Ace also brought Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a Portland-based purveyor whose practices and quality standards have been said to have "revolutionized the coffee business." More recently, the restaurant at The Nomad has gained notoriety, helmed by a former Eleven Madison Park chef. And in August 2010 came game-changer Eataly, a 32,000 s/f Italian artisanal market at 200 Fifth Ave., which features an 8,000 s/f rooftop garden (Birreria) and six restaurants under the guidance of Mario Batali and the Bastinich family. Hotel Hotbed NoMad is more recently defined by its hotels. In 2007, GFI Development acquired a run-down hotel at 20 West 29th called The Breslin, named for its original proprietor, James Breslin, who opened it in 1904. The company formed a partnership with the Ace Hotel Group, a successful venture in Seattle and Portland, and agreed to bring a branch of the Ace here, which officially opened in 2010. The first Ace Hotel opened in 1999 in Seattle, where friends Alex Calderwood, Wade Weigel, and Doug Herrick purchased and transformed a Seattle halfway house into an affordable hotel that would appeal to creative types. According to Calderwood, the creative mastermind and face behind The Ace, the style and furnishing of each Ace property is designed to reflect its location, with an eye towards re-imagining properties that are "challenged." There is also a distinct philosophy around "creating an egalitarian atmosphere by bringing together creative types with tight budgets and more affluent travelers willing to trade down, as it were, in exchange for cool," stated a March 2007 New York Times article entitled "Portland's Retro Fit Hotel." It went on to note that the hotel's name was inspired by the card: the highest or lowest in the deck. GFI later purchased the Johnston Building, at 28th and Broadway, to develop into a separate hotel, which they decided to call The NoMad. In addition to the Ace and the NoMad, which put the neighborhood on the map, there are a number of nearby boutique hotels: The Carlton, The Roger Williams, The Gershwin, and The Gansevoort Park. And that will continue with the planned development of the first U.S. location of the Virgin hotel on Broadway and 29th St., along with Sam Nazarian's 190-room SLS branded hotel on 444 Park Ave. South & 31st St. There is also King & Grove opening at 29 East 29th St., from the group who created the sublime Rauschmeyer's in Montauk. (To be continued.) Ron Cohen is chief marketing officer of The Besen Group, New York, NY. Follow him on Twitter @NYCRon126