You may never have washboard abs like Britney Spears, but soon you can fill your belly at her restaurant.
The pop singer is opening an American bistro in midtown Manhattan called Nyla – for New York, Spears’ new home, and Louisiana, her home state.
Nyla will occupy space in the Dylan Hotel that formerly housed Virot, an upscale French restaurant that closed shortly after Sept. 11. It’s scheduled to open in May.
“Virot didn’t have the hipness I was looking for,” Morris Moinian, owner of the Dylan Hotel and a partner in the restaurant, told The New York Times for Sunday’s editions. “Right now we have the ultimate celebrity associated as a partner with the restaurant, and that is what the consumer wants.”
Moinian said the 20-year-old Spears fell in love with the cavernous space on East 41st Street, which includes a 6-foot-wide fireplace.
“The concept is going to be an American brasserie, where we are going to take on several personalities,” Bobby Ochs, another partner in the restaurant, told the Times. Ochs previously founded restaurants, which are now closed, with Marla Maples and Patrick Swayze. “At 11 p.m., we’re going to convert it into a sophisticated late-night lounge.”