Thomas Straker opens Straker's in New York's Soho
The British chef's first restaurant outside London takes over the former Lucky Strike site on Grand Street, four years after his Notting Hill debut.
Thomas Straker has opened his first restaurant outside London, taking over the former Lucky Strike site on Grand Street in New York's Soho.
Straker's NYC launched on 10 October, four years after the British chef opened his original Straker's in Notting Hill. The Soho address was home to Keith McNally's Lucky Strike for more than 31 years before it closed in 2020.
Design studio Post Company reworked the space around an open kitchen-bar, with artwork by Keith Haring, Damien Hirst and Brian Clarke on the walls. Straker first announced he had “secured the keys” to the site on Instagram in April 2025, after months of negotiation.
Moving to New York is a massive move for the brand, Straker's.
A menu built for Soho
The menu carries over Straker's signature dishes, including a mussel flatbread and bluefin tuna belly carpaccio, alongside additions written for the new address: a red shrimp and foie gras tostada, wood-roasted grouper with salsa verde, and Lucky Lime oysters, a nod to the building's past.
Straker built his following during the pandemic, posting recipe content that turned butter-heavy home cooking into a viral format. Before that, he worked as a sous chef at the Michelin-starred Elystan Street and as executive chef at Casa Cruz, two formal dining rooms a long way from his social-media persona.
Since Notting Hill, he has added the all-day restaurant and deli Acre, opened in 2025, and published his first cookbook, “Food You Want to Eat,” the same year.
A test beyond London
“Moving to New York is a massive move for the brand, Straker's,” he said of the opening. He added that he would “do everything in my power to make sure that this restaurant is a success.”
The bet lands in a Soho dining scene already busy with British and European imports, and arrives the same week as Daniel Humm's new West Village bistro HUMM, and months after the steakhouse Romy took over the former Little Prince site nearby. For a chef whose reputation was built on a phone screen, the next test is whether it holds up at a Grand Street table.
