The Swifties will know this already, but for those who missed it, the Queen of Pop and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, graced us with their first New York City spotting in a month last Friday. The lucky location that got the Taylor Swift treatment this time? Del Frisco’s Grille in FiDi—practically right across the street from Vogue’s headquarters.
We’ll be honest: Del Frisco’s Grille wasn’t an immediately familiar name to us. But after a bit of research—and Slacking the editor of Vogue.com—we learned that it’s a nationwide chain often found in major malls (think Cheesecake Factory, but with more traditional American cuisine). Given its prime location in FiDi, the mecca of finance bros, it’s also something of a happy-hour hotspot—or at least it was when we went for dinner on Tuesday.
Here, a rundown of our visit:
When we walk in at 4:30 p.m., the space is still calm. Only a few Patagonia vests and Béis tote bags can be spotted at the bar, which surprises us, considering Del Frisco’s happy hour ends in only 30 minutes. (According to our friends who work at AmEx, Tuesdays are a big happy-hour day in corporate America.) We approach the suited-out host without a reservation and notice a staircase behind him, which must lead to a more private space—we imagine that’s where Swift and Kelce sat. He doesn’t offer to take us upstairs, though, instead directing us to a normal booth on the first floor, right next to the happy-hour crowd.
The menu takes us back to our high school days, when we frequented places like the Cheesecake Factory, Houston’s (also known as Hillstone outside of New Jersey), or Fresh Corn Grill. The multi-page beverage menu features an assortment of drinks that you probably won’t find at chicer, more mom-and-pop-style restaurants: things like the Cider House Mule, Hazelnut Espresso Martini, and a Passionfruit Martini that comes with a shot of Prosecco.
Our waiter confirms he was working the night the famous couple stopped by and recommends the Passionfruit Martini, which we both get. We notice a drink called The VIP and wonder if Swift might have ordered that for herself—but then decide that, no, that would probably be too on-the-nose.
While conversing with our waiter—who will remain anonymous for privacy reasons—we try to act as low-key as possible, like we aren’t Swift superfans who only came to figure out why she might have picked this classic mall restaurant for date night. Still, it’s likely he senses some fan behavior from the interaction, although we sprinkle in a few white lies to keep our cover, like: “We can’t believe Travis and Tay came to our local after-work spot!” Regardless, he matches our energy and gives us all the juicy details we so crave, while also recommending some popular appetizers.
