Simon Kim Unveils Three Dining Concepts at 550 Madison in Midtown

For restaurateur Simon Kim, opening 550 Madison marks a massive homecoming.

“I came from Korea when I was 13 years old, and always wanted to open my own restaurant. Fast forward, here we are, opening 550 Madison,” says Kim, who opened the first location of his Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse Cote nine years ago in NoMad, and has since expanded the concept to locations in Miami, Las Vegas and Singapore. Now, he’s bringing it all back to where it matters the most: New York City. “This is a love letter to New York,” Kim adds. “The city that gave me everything.”

A little more than five years ago, Kim’s Gracious Hospitality Management was enlisted to open three dining concepts within the Midtown Philip Johnson-designed building, which Kim first encountered as a teenager visiting the city with his family, when it was the Sony Tower. On the first floor is Bar Chimera, a lounge with three distinct bar concepts; downstairs is a new location of Cote; and upstairs is Sushi Yoshitake, an intimate sushi bar that will open later this year inspired by Ginza meets Gotham City. Each space was designed in collaboration with David Rockwell.

Bar Chimera, located on the ground floor, features 60-foot ceilings and windows overlooking Madison Avenue. But the centerpiece of the room’s design is a live pine tree stretching toward the ceiling, surrounded by a basin of water. The pine tree is the national tree of Korea, although the tree at 550 Madison is an American pine, which for Kim symbolizes New York’s myriad identities. High up on an interior wall, they installed a neon sign by artist Martin Creed with a message: “Don’t Worry.”

Options at Bar Chimera include a martini bar, whiskey bar, and a wine and Champagne bar. The martini bar features proprietary water, distilled and remineralized in the city exclusively for Bar Chimera. The whiskey bar offers a collection of rare bottles from around the world, with a focus on American and Japanese bottles. Notable choices include a 1970s Presidential select Suntory, and an Old Fashioned made with the top-tier Pappy Van Winkle. A wine bar features over 40 pours by the glass, for moments spanning casual meetups to more indulgent occasions.  A Madeira wall features vintages dating back to 1835, a unique way for visitors to mark special milestone years. 

“ It’s been so long since Midtown had something really fun,” says Kim, describing the appeal of bringing a dining concept to a more corporate part of town. “This is not just another place where you finish work and have gatherings of decent things. Whether it’s a martini, whether it’s whiskey, we want to go all the way in — but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”

The food menu at Bar Chimera was designed as an answer to the question: “ What do I want to eat while I’m drinking?” Dishes include a burger, octopus fritters, foie gras, Korean salt bread, and chicken nuggets with caviar — a trademark of Kim’s other popular New York restaurant, Coqodaq. 

Kim makes his way down a staircase to the cellar level, where guests arrive in Cote’s red-lit clubby lounge. 

 ”If upstairs is a very polite Midtown bar where you can do business, this is where you come for fun,” says Kim. “Drink and listen to music, people-watch, and interact.” Cote’s front lounge features a DJ booth and a bar with lounge seating, the restaurant’s lit-up meat locker serving as a backdrop.

A blue-lit hallway “portal” leads to the main dining room — Kim describes the experience as akin to arriving in El Dorado — where diners are surrounded by live greenery and tables with custom smokeless grills. A private dining room is flexible to accommodate seated dinners or cocktail parties, with a screen queued up for karaoke. 

“ Our competition is the digital world,” says Kim. “When it’s so stimulating, the real world seems so mundane. And so we wanted to create a fully immersive experience — I’m gonna take you away from your phone.” 

Later this year, Kim will open the property’s third restaurant project, Sushi Yoshitake, led by three-Michelin-star chef Masahiro Yoshitake. While Cote is dark and sultry, the upper-level sushi bar, outfitted in blond wood, offers a softer environment.

“ You know what Midtown people want? Surf and turf,” says Kim. “Surf is a three-Michelin-star sushi chef from Japan, and turf is a one-Michelin-star Korean steakhouse,” he adds. “ I feel like that is New York.”

And New Yorkers love to keep their options open — even better if they don’t have to go very far. 

“ You had a martini down there, you came up [here] and finish this really extravagant sushi,” says Kim, imagining a hypothetical night out at 550 Madison as he peers down at Bar Chimera from inside Sushi Yoshitake. “And then you say, you know what? Let’s have one more drink. And then we go take the elevator down to that red light, where the DJ is pumping.”