FOOD (New York restaurant)
| FOOD | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | October 1971 |
| Closed | 1974 |
| Previous owner(s) | Carol Goodden, Tina Girouard, Gordon Matta-Clark |
| Food type | home-cooked, artisanal |
| City | New York City |
| State | New York |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 40°43′35″N 74°00′07″W / 40.7265097°N 74.0019006°W |
FOOD was an important artist-run restaurant in SoHo, New York. FOOD was founded by artists Carol Goodden, Tina Girouard and Gordon Matta-Clark. FOOD was considered one of the first important restaurants in SoHo. Other individuals who were involved with FOOD included Suzanne Harris and Rachel Lew. FOOD was a place where artists in SoHo, especially those who were later involved in Avalanche magazine and the Anarchitecture group, could meet and enjoy food together. FOOD was considered to be both a business and an artistic "intervention in an urban setting." It has also been called a "landmark that still resonates in the history and mythology of SoHo in the 1970s."
Before they founded FOOD, Goodden and Matta-Clark were already cooking for artists in New York and were already known for throwing dinner parties for friends, mainly hosted at their loft. In 1971, they roasted an entire pig under the Brooklyn Bridge. The roast was known as the Brooklyn Bridge Event. The Event was accompanied by outdoor sculpture and celebrated the opening of the Alternative Gallery Space on Greene Street. The sculptures at the pig roast had been curated by Alanna Heiss of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA.) Music for the roast was done by Richard Landry and the Phillip Glass Ensemble.
Matta-Clark suggested to Goodden the idea for a restaurant, which she found appealing. They chose a location in SoHo on the corner of Prince and Wooster streets. There was a struggling restaurant there called Comidas Criollas and Goodden negotiated the lease from them. At that time, SoHo was considered a cultural desert, with struggling businesses. Goodden had access to an inheritance which she was able to use as the initial investment for the restaurant. Gooden and Matta-Clark wanted to create a space where they could help their friends find jobs while giving people a place to eat in what would later be known as SoHo. Matta-Clark and Girouard began to renovate the place. FOOD opened on October 1971 at 127 Prince Street. During the renovations, Matta-Clark was inspired to so some of his original "cutting" art works.
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