Café Gitane Is Back, Baby!

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Remember Café Gitane? That place was an institution — a delicious and reasonably priced French-Moroccan café near the corner of Mott and Prince in Nolita that opened in 1994 and was a favorite of fashion peeps and celebrities for decades, helping define the downtown food scene of the late ’90s and early 2000s. David Bowie famously loved its Moroccan couscous (same, David, same), Helena Christensen was a familiar face, and its devoted following included Michelle Williams, Spike Jonze, and downtown restaurateurs Serge Becker and Zac Bahaj.

The restaurant shut down in 2025 following reports of unpaid wages and unpaid rent, but founder Luc Lévy has apparently sorted all that out now and is relaunching fashion’s favorite bistro with the help of two new partners: restaurateur Nima Garos and The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus.

The new Café Gitane also comes with a new address: 162 East Broadway, about a 20 minute walk southeast of their original location.

Much of what made the original so beloved remains, from the familiar map of Morocco and Jimi Hendrix overlooking the intimate and cozy 1,200 sq foot restaurant (33-seats total, 7 seats at the bar) to the iconic little green dresses worn by the waitresses. The interiors re-instate the eclectic, lived-in feeling that made Gitane feel almost like stepping into someone’s home rather than a restaurant, with an atmosphere that was never overly designed or contrived.

Much of the original team is also returning — including kitchen staff who worked alongside Lévy for 15 years — while the front-of-house team includes familiar faces who previously worked with him in Brooklyn. With Garos helping usher in the next chapter, the new location preserves the food, hospitality, and sense of community that have always been central to Café Gitane, while introducing fresh energy and a new evening experience.

The menu remains rooted in the French-Moroccan flavors and unfussy, comforting dishes that made Café Gitane a downtown favorite, with signature classics returning alongside new additions.

Among the most recognizable menu items is the famous avocado toast ($14), a dish Café Gitane is widely credited with helping popularize in New York City, served with lemon juice, olive oil, and chili flakes on seven-grain bread. Equally iconic is the Moroccan couscous ($18) featuring red peppers, eggplant, potatoes, golden raisins, toasted pine nuts, hummus, mint, and roasted pepper spread, with the option to add merguez sausage or organic chicken breast.

Other returning favorites include  the spicy meatball tagine ($24) with organic beef, hard-boiled egg, tzatziki, cilantro, turmeric, and tomato sauce; hachis parmentier ($22), the traditional French comfort dish of ground beef and mashed potatoes; and the hearts of palm salad ($18) with endive, avocado, orange, Moroccan olives, and cilantro. The chicken satay ($18) also returns with spicy peanut sauce, jasmine rice, and carrot salad, alongside smaller plates such as baked feta ($12) with tomatoes, Moroccan olives, capers, and thyme, and the hummus tzatziki dip ($14) with rose blossom, mint, chili flakes, and toasted pita.

New additions include linguini lamb ragu ($26) prepared with warm spices and a touch of pinot noir, skirt steak ($26) with shallots, chives, and roasted garlic, the Gitane burger ($18), and grilled eggplant ($18) with tapenade, goat cheese, pesto, and watercress. The menu also features pomegranate glazed salmon ($20), baked pasta ($18) with roasted tomato and gorgonzola cream sauce, and a goat cheese and pecan Salad ($18) with cranberries, sweet potatoes, and fennel.

Is anyone else suddenly unreasonably famished?

For the first time in its history, Café Gitane is also introducing a full liquor program. The French-Moroccan-inspired cocktail program includes drinks like Sheltering Sky ($17), Lévy’s personal favorite, with vodka, Aperol, lemon, and Moroccan spices; Casablanca Sunset ($18) with tequila, Grand Marnier, fig, pineapple, and orange juice; Marrakech Noir ($18) with vanilla vodka, coffee liqueur, chai, and cinnamon; and Pomegranate Spritz ($18) with St-Germain, pomegranate, prosecco, and club soda. The beverage program also includes classic aperitifs, champagne, and a selection of French wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley, Sancerre, and Provence, alongside Moroccan mint tea, hibiscus tea, and traditional café offerings.

The new Café Gitane is open Tuesday–Sunday, 11am-5pm for lunch and 5pm–late inner). There is also brunch service on weekends from 10am-4pm. As ever, Café Gitane does not take reservations.