The New-York Historical Society — rebranded the New York Historical, and the oldest museum in the city —has relaunched its lobby restaurant once more. Now, Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli — known for shows like Iron Chef America, Alex vs. America, Chopped, Supermarket Stakeout, and the Kitchen — will oversee the kitchen at Clara on the Upper West Side (170 Central Park West, at 77th Street).

Clara reopened on April 1, with Great Performances taking over the operations — the group behind operations at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Museum Café, and the Wollman Café at Wollman Rink. Guarnaschelli told Eater she’s been in discussions with Great Performances about working together on a project for a long time.

“I love Central Park West and I love the Park, and all these storied buildings,” she said. “I like that it lives in a museum, in a cultural institution.”

The new menu at Clara features greenmarket produce with a spotlight on Kinderhook, New York’s Katchkie Farm. It currently lists Parker House rolls, artichokes, asparagus mimosa ($16), and a chopped salad with black and red kale, savoy cabbage, radishes, chickpeas, and feta ($18). Mains range from pea and mint ravioli with pecorino ($29) to a cheeseburger ($29) or fluke amandine ($34).

Guarnaschelli has not attached her name to a new restaurant in New York for more than a decade since Butter, open for 24 years, moved from Noho to Midtown in 2014. Butter originally opened in 2002 as a club that often landed on Page Six, owned by Richie Akiva — along with Scott Sartiano behind Zero Bond and Sartiano’s — with a cameo on shows like Gossip Girl. Guarnaschelli’s fame grew and the uptown location became her destination restaurant.

The switch-up follows the less than two-year run under the Clara name from Brooklyn’s Oberon Group, behind Brooklyn bars June, Rhodora, Rucola, and Anaïs. (Incidentally, the Oberon Group has moved its focus to another museum restaurant, this time at the New Museum).

Before that, the New York Historical was home to two restaurants from Stephen Starr: Storico and the attached Parliament coffee bar. They closed in July 2023, after Constellation Culinary Group, which also runs restaurants in Carnegie Hall and the New York Botanical Garden, announced it was moving on from the museum.

Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Clara retains the name of the 2023 iteration, an homage to Clara Driscoll (1861 – 1944), head of Tiffany Studios’ women’s glass-cutting department. “For years, Driscoll and her team of ‘Tiffany Girls’ worked in anonymity,” reads the website, until the museum discovered her role behind many of the famous glass shades.

Open for lunch and dinner, Clara is a project that Guarnaschelli felt she couldn’t pass up. “With Butter for 24 years, that’s really about a group of people and a family. This,” she says of the Clara project, “was too compelling to pass up.”

April 2 at 1:30 p.m. :This post has been updated to reflect the rebranding of the museum, which had been the New-York Historical Society and is now the New York Historical.