Bistro At A Bus Station

"In what could be a remarkable transformation, Simon Oren, who operates several French restaurants in Manhattan, and his partner, Steve Tenedios, plan to open Metromarché early next month on Eighth Avenue at 41st Street (Port Authority Bus Terminal). The restaurant, which will have a full wine list and a zinc bar imported from Paris, will fill a corner of the terminal last occupied by the Silver Bullet Saloon.

Its arrival will herald the ambitions of the terminal's managers to upgrade it from an unsightly transportation hub to a more inviting place for commuters and people who live or work in the neighborhood. Some New Yorkers may see the bus depot as a seedy haunt of vagrants, but Grand Central Terminal had a similar image problem before it was renovated in the 1990's."

'You could have said that about Grand Central a number of years ago, and now they have a lot of good restaurants there,' said Charles A. Gargano, vice chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns and operates the bus station. The neighborhood around the bus terminal, he said, is improving; he pointed to the construction of the New York Times headquarters across Eighth Avenue and plans for two more towers, one at Eighth Avenue and 42nd street and one on top of the bus terminal, as reasons."