Other
Drew Nieporent
Restaurateur
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Founder-level restaurant work is measured less by a single room than by the ability to keep rooms useful to a city over time. In New York, Drew Nieporent’s record with Myriad Restaurant Group runs through Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, Nobu, Corton, Bâtard, Rubicon, and Crush Wine & Spirits: dining rooms, partnerships, wine programs, reopenings, and addresses that required different operating muscles rather than one repeated formula. Restaurant operating develops through service pressure, labor control, floor timing, purchasing, licensing, partnerships, and the daily reset between one service and the next. Nieporent’s route into ownership came through that practical register before it became a portfolio, with work that moved from employee roles to long-running restaurants in Tribeca and beyond, including New York, London, San Francisco, and Citi Field.
The Climb
Hospitality training gives structure, but restaurant fluency is built on repetition across formats. Drew Nieporent trained at Cornell University School of Hospitality, then worked as a restaurant employee at McDonald’s, a restaurant worker at Norwegian America’s Vistafjord, a restaurant worker at Maxwell’s Plum, and a restaurant worker at Tavern on the Green in New York City. The range matters to the trade: fast systems, volume hospitality, dining-room rhythm, and the stamina required before ownership turns into a public title. Tribeca dining in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries was shaped by operators who could make a neighborhood address hold attention across changing tastes. As owner / restaurateur at Montrachet in Tribeca, New York City (1985–2008), Nieporent was tied to one of the defining rooms of that downtown period. The same address lineage continued with chef-partner at Corton in Tribeca, New York City (2008–2014), then owner / restaurateur at Bâtard in Tribeca, New York City (2014–2023), showing a particular kind of restaurant stewardship: not just opening, but reworking a room’s identity as the market and audience changed. A restaurant group’s durability depends on how well different businesses can share discipline without becoming identical. Today, Drew is co-founder / owner of Nobu (since 1994), owner of Myriad Restaurant Group, owner of Nobu London, and operator of Crush Wine & Spirits (since 2005). The portfolio crosses fine dining, wine, international restaurant branding, and the everyday mechanics of hospitality while keeping New York as its primary base.
Today
Myriad Restaurant Group in New York, United States, functions as a multi-format restaurant and hospitality platform rather than a single dining-room idea. The spread covers downtown dining, a global restaurant name with New York roots, London service, wine and spirits retail, and a ballpark setting at Citi Field. Ownership of a flagship restaurant keeps an operator close to the standards that made the larger group legible. Nieporent is also owner of Nobu New York in New York City, maintaining a direct link to one of the central names in his career and to the city around which the work has been organized.
Recognition
Recognition in restaurant work can mark different competencies: critical dining performance, wine-program depth, and the immediate force of a new opening. Drew's honors include Two Michelin stars for Corton, Best New Restaurant for Bâtard (2014), Wine Spectator Grand Award for Tribeca Grill (2002), and Best New Restaurant for Nobu NYC. Read together, the awards show a career evaluated across fine dining, wine service, and restaurant launches rather than by one narrow category.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Drew
What is Drew Nieporent's current role?
Drew Nieporent is founder and inspiration behind the Myriad Restaurant Group.
Where did Drew Nieporent train or study?
Drew Nieporent trained at Cornell University School of Hospitality.
What recognition has Drew Nieporent received?
Two Michelin stars for Corton.
