The World's Most Expensive Food Court

Fancy restaurants in shopping malls—an Asian invention born of the need to build multi-purpose developments vertically—are coming to New York inside the AOL Time Warner Center. Is this a concept that New Yorkers are ready to embrace?

Well, look at the lineup and decide for yourself:

• Already open is Asiate, located on the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental, featuring French-Japanese fusion cuisine.
• At the "low end" is Cafe Gray, a "brasserie" with Central European (read: Vienna, Budapest and Prague) accents, run by Gray Kunz, the chef who piloted the late lamented Lespinasse to four-star status.
• Renowned American chef Charlie Trotter will run "a reinterpreted oyster bar, with slight Asian touches" next door to Cafe Gray.
• Jean-Georges Vongerichten will bring his vision of what a steak house should be to the table (or, in other words, far more sophistication than the standard meat-and-potatoes meat joint).
• Masa Takayama will be flying in from Beverly Hills to open Asayoshi, "where he will be pleased to serve a $500 dinner."
• The crown jewel, though is probably Thomas Keller's Per Se, the east coast version of his legendary French Laundry, which will have one seating a night for a prix-fixe tasting menu, with lunch (again, one seating, prix-fixe only) being served only three times a week.

With the exception of the already-open Asiate, the restaurants are expected to open sometime in February.

Time to start donating organs...

Update: Gothamist thinks that what the AOL Time Warner Center really needs is Kitchen Stadium, an idea I whole-heartedly endorse.