Susur Lee to make his New York comeback in One World Trade Center

In 2008, Canadian superstar chef Susur Lee tried to take Manhattan, with so-so results. Shang, his clubby Lower East Side resto-lounge, met with tepid reviews (including a doozy from New York Times food critic Frank Bruni) and closed after three years. New Yorkers, Lee concluded, just weren’t ready for avant-garde Chinese food. Now, Lee’s making a comeback. Instead of kowtowing to everyday American palates, this time he’s targeting a different clientele: the members of an ultra-exclusive business and social club called the China Center, which caters to “social, business and cultural leaders from China and the U.S.” The club will occupy five floors of the newly constructed One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan and will contain luxury office space, a traditional Chinese tearoom and, as of 2015, Lee’s as-yet-unnamed contemporary Chinese eatery, which will be lodged on the building’s 66th floor—far removed from the unappreciative masses.