Pre-Show Dinner Near Madison Square Garden
Harry Styles is playing Madison Square Garden every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday through October 31. That comes to a total of thirty shows, and it’s the only run he’s doing in the US this year.
If you have tickets to one of them, you already know the hard part is the hour before. The blocks around the Garden fill up two hours ahead of any show, and they mostly offer the same night— a loud bar, a long wait, and a rushed plate of something. Chef Owner John Doherty has watched that happen for years, so this fall he set aside the front of his restaurant for the people who would rather start the evening right.
BLACKBARN is a 15-minute walk from the Garden, in the Flatiron NoMad District, at the north end of Madison Square Park. It’s far enough away to feel like a real evening out and close enough that you’re never counting minutes.
What we put together for it
Chef Doherty has been quietly feeding the concert crowd for years without ever making anything of it. It started with Madonna's last run at the Garden, and it happened again with Sabrina Carpenter and again with Lady Gaga. Tables of four and six would sit down around six o'clock, in from out of state, wanting a proper dinner before the show. Thirty consecutive show nights felt like a long enough run to finally do something about it.
So on every one of those show nights, the Tavern, our front bar room that looks out onto the park, is set up for the pre-show crowd. Expect Harry Styles' music playing, two specials on the menu, and a life-size cutout of the man himself that we are happy to bring out for a group photo before you walk over. If you found us in Time Out's guide to Harry Styles' New York, or read about the tavern takeover heading into Labor Day weekend, this is the room they meant.
THE SPECIALS
Watermelon Sugar $18
This one is made with Altos reposado, fresh watermelon juice, Aperol, lemon, and agave, served tall over ice with a sugared watermelon slice. It drinks tart and dry rather than sweet, and the Aperol leaves a little bitterness on the finish.
Compressed Watermelon and Charred Onion $21
Compressing watermelon draws the water out and concentrates everything that is left, so it firms up and acts more like a savory dish than fruit. We serve it with charred onion, farro, and whipped feta.
Our Advice? Order them together. A proper bite and aperetif is the difference between a good show and a long night…plus, this is the perfect plate to put in the middle of the table while everyone is still deciding.
Both are available only on the thirty show dates, running through October 31. BroadwayWorld called it an all-Harry experience, which feels about right for two dishes, a playlist, and a cardboard pop star at the bar.
Timing your night
Shows start at 8:00 PM. We recommend booking your table at 5:30 or 6:00, so you get a full, unhurried dinner and still leave with time to brave the crowds and settle into your seats at the venue. Be sure to mention the show to your server when you sit down and we’ll pace the kitchen around it to get you out on time.
If you’d rather keep it to a drink and something to snack on, the Tavern bar takes walk-ins and no reservation is needed.
The walk from BLACKBARN to MSG itself is simple. Head west on 26th Street to Seventh Avenue and then turn north. The concert venue sits between 31st and 33rd, directly above Penn Station. It’s a leisurely 15-minute walk or 10 if you walk like a New Yorker ;)
Show nights do fill up, so a reservation is the safer bet. If you find yourself here without one, come in anyway and we'll see what we can do.
» RESERVE YOUR TABLE «
Where you are eating
Chef Doherty opened BLACKBARN in 2015. It is a one of a kind three-story restaurant built from reclaimed wood and open beams, with high ceilings that keep a full house warm and an open kitchen where guests in the Main Dining Room can watch the night unfold on the pass. The Tavern sits at the front of the space as you walk in from the street, and the Main Dining Room is through the double doors in the back. Dinner in the Main Dining Room begins at 5:30 PM every night, though the bar in the Tavern is always open, and the Tavern dinner menu becomes available at 4:00 PM.
These specials may belong to Harry's residency, but the menu underneath them, and the care that goes into each dish, is the restaurant. We serve dry-aged Certified Angus Beef steaks, handmade pastas, and vegetable-driven dishes built around seasonal ingredients that turn over as the season does. We take real pride in sourcing from local vendors and farms across the region, and some of those relationships go back further than the restaurant does. Chef Doherty met a few of those farmers at the Union Square Greenmarket before BLACKBARN ever opened its doors, and we still buy from them today. He spent nearly three decades at the Waldorf Astoria New York before this, where he became the youngest executive chef in the hotel's history at 27, and he still works from the same rule he did then. If he cannot taste a dish in his head, it does not go on the menu.
That is the version of this place we would rather you remember in November, once the last show is over and the watermelon is out of season. We close before the Garden goes dark, so we can’t host the after party. But if someone in your group isn’t going to the show, send them back to us. We’ll keep them company over a good bottle and some late night talking.
Show nights are Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, through October 31.
You can see the full dinner menus and cocktail list here.
