Long-Awaited Tracks Raw Bar and Grill Will Be an Oasis for Hungry and Thirsty LIRR Riders
Tracks is the first restaurant in Grand Central Madison. The gleaming station opened 2-1/2 years ago, but the MTA is still trying to overcome the flaw that left food and retailing out of the original design.
| 03 Sep 2025 | 07:32
Shrimp, and of course oysters, are a featured offering at the new Tracks Raw Bar, which just opened in Grand Central Madison, the first and so far only restaurant in the 2-1/2-year-old station that is a quarter mile below street level. (
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An enthused bar staff awaits orders for handcrafted cocktails, beer, wine, and other beverages on Tracks GCM’s first day, Sept. 2, 2025. (
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On Sept. 2, Tracks Raw Bar and Grill at Grand Central Madison opened for business. To commemorate, speeches were given at a press conference. L-R, Bruce Caulfield, principal partner, Tracks; Janno Lieber, chair and CEO of the MTA; Rob Free, president, LIRR; and David Florio, MTA chief Real Estate Transactions and Operations Officer. (
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The long bar space at Tracks Raw Bar and Grill blends in very well with the LIRR ticket office across the way. There are two adjoining spaces, one on either side of the bar to have a business meeting, family gathering, or just some zen moments to sample the menu for food and drink. (
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According to MTA Real Estate head David Florio, at least one of the brick-and-mortar retail spaces at Grand Central Madison will be leased during the next year. Sept. 2 marked the opening of the first leased space in the terminal since it opened in January of 2023. (
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Distinctive signage notes entrance to the only dining venue at Grand Central Madison. (
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In a hurry? The Tracks Raw Bar and Grill at GCM has a grab-and-go facility behind the restaurant. (
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Malpeques on the way to Massapequa Park? Oysters to Oyster Bay? Maybe a lobster roll to Lynbrook? Waiting for your departure to points east on the Island?
Maybe a handcrafted Tunnel Mule or Trackside Dirty might take the edge off in a pleasant, surprisingly quiet surrounding in a terminal that serves tens of thousands of commuters.
On Sept. 2, the long-awaited opening of Tracks Raw Bar and Grill at Grand Central Madison occurred, a ribbon was cut, and the bar was busy, something that the concourse there had not witnessed since the terminal’s opening on Jan. 25, 2023. Restaurateur Bruce Caulfield was fueled by the success of his original Tracks Raw Bar and Grill restaurant in Penn Station. It was a longtime railroad-themed establishment inside the station, replete with murals and vintage photographs that detailed the history of the LIRR and other railroads. The restaurant relocated to West 31st Street in 2019 when the MTA rebuilt the LIRR’s Concourse at Penn Station. It is preparing to reopen inside Penn Station while maintaining the 31st Street location.
The new Grand Central Madison location was originally set to open in October of last year, but supply-chain problems and permitting delays meant that the event happened nearly a year later, on Sept. 2.
The space—near the LIRR main waiting area, ticket office, and LIRR police station—was not laid out specifically for food and beverage outlets, but clever design work made it look as though it was part of the original drawings when the space for the terminal was laid out. While lacking proper venting for gas cooking, the dining menu includes such standards as New England clam chowder and BBQ pulled pork, cooked electrically. Caulfield noted at a press conference for the opening that you can cook now with new technology that was impossible five years ago.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, who came to the opening press event, stated, “Tracks is the first step toward filling the terminal with a full range of retail and food options to go along with the most reliable service in the railroad’s long history.” Lieber also noted that 70,000 riders use the complex every weekday.
Tracks is the first of many new retail/dining options that will be available at Grand Central Madison. Combined with the addition of more retailers in Grand Central Terminal and more seating in the mezzanine, the move is expected to generate energy and foot traffic and create an atmosphere that will attract further retailers.
On May 20, both LIRR and Metro-North railroads reached new post-pandemic one-day-high ridership levels, with 285,050 riders on the LIRR and 255,638 customers on Metro-North.
At the relaxed press conference, Lieber noted that Tracks is a venerable brand for the LIRR, loved by so many, even retirees asking if the restaurant was still in business. He also posited that the railroad’s service is better than it has ever been. Rob Free, LIRR president, urged all to stop by at Tracks, have a cold beverage, and then embark on your trip eastward on an on-time train.
Tracks Owner Bruce Caulfield suggested making that cold beer a Guinness and having some fresh oysters with it before train time.
On a financial note, David Florio, MTA Chief Real Estate Transactions and Operations Officer, who is in charge of leasing space for both GCT and GCM, fielded a few questions from the media. Straus News asked when another non-kiosk brick-and-mortar space would open. “In 2026,” he noted, and furthered in another query that there is a lot of demand for food and beverage outlets in the newish concourse space. MTA Chair Lieber explained that the MTA’s bid to find a broker in charge of overseeing the leasing of space for the complex wasn’t working, and the MTA itself will instead lease retail agreements to the general market on an individual basis.
At the presser conclusion, owner Caulfield was asked for a summation of how his venue was doing in its first few hours of opening.
“It’s great to see money on the bar,” he replied.
On May 20, both LIRR and Metro-North railroads reached new post-pandemic one-day-high ridership levels, 285,050 on the LIRR and 255,638 customers on Metro-North.