Chef Mitsunobu Nagae plans to open his first restaurant, L’Abeille, in spring 2022. Robuchon protégé will head the kitchen of a new luxury restaurant to open in Tribeca this spring. For chef and co-owner Mitsunobu Nagae, who has worked at Joël Robuchon restaurants in Tokyo, Paris and NYC, this will be his first solo restaurant, located at 412 Greenwich Street between Laight and Hubert streets.

Named L’Abeille, meaning bee in French, the name refers to Nagae’s nickname Mitsu, meaning honey. The concept is an expression of “bistronomy”, which Nagae and his associates explained in 2004 as part bistro and part gastronomy by a French food critic. A bistronomy offers mid to high price point French fare in a “sophisticated yet informal” setting shared by Nagae and partners. Nagae says, “I choose a local, very authentic traditional cuisine and rearrange it more precisely. And this is how I see the essence of French cuisine.”