It’s been five years since customers could witness oysters being shucked at the bar at Tracks Raw Bar & Grill in Penn Station.
"In a word, I was depressed," said longtime customer Bob Freedman, remembering how he felt when it closed in 2019. That's when the MTA started to renovate Penn Station, and the bar moved outside the station to West 31st Street.
What You Need To Know
- Tracks Raw Bar & Grill was a commuter favorite at Penn Station for 16 years before it closed in 2019
- The bar and grill moved to street level on West 31st Street when the MTA started to renovate Penn Station. That one will be rebranded once the new Tracks opens
- The new version will occupy the same space as the former one, and have a similar feel
Earlier this year, the MTA announced Tracks would be the first restaurant to open in Grand Central Madison. And now, it's coming back to Penn Station, where it first opened in 2003. While the LIRR concourse has changed, Tracks will feel familiar to regulars.
“The raw bar will be [here], and in here is the kitchen, where it formerly was. That’s the same footprint as before. And the bar starts here, running down to the front door,” said owner Bruce Caulfield, giving a tour of the space. “We lost a few feet with the renovation, so I increased the bar size to this side.”
Caulfield says unfortunately, the wood he salvaged from the original bar, he used in the one across the street, so he’s recreating the look from scratch.
"It’s gonna look very much like the old Tracks with the wood and train car look,” Caulfield said. “But this time, I get to do it even better, because I knew my shortfalls last time."
Like a private room in the back.
"It’s gonna look like a Victorian parlor car, like you were sitting there in the 1890s, with nice chandeliers, leather seating, beautiful tables, and you could have meetings there,” Caulfield said.
But he says besides the atmosphere and the food and drinks, Tracks is really about the people, and many of his old staff will be back, below ground.
“What I love is that you have blue collar, white collar, everyone got along together,” Caulfield said. "We had about six marriages come out of Tracks, I think they’re still married. Two of them are my bartenders. It was definitely a 'Cheers' in its own right.”
And this time, with NJ Transit's recent woes, he thinks his business will be needed now more than ever.
“We used to say, we live on train delays,” Caulfield said. "But they've been pretty bad lately."
Commuters can get their oysters shucked and a pint of beer starting later this year or early next year. Meanwhile, the Tracks at Grand Central Madison should be open by Thanksgiving. The Tracks on West 31st Street will be rebranded.