Le Bernardin Will Expand to Accommodate More Diners Eric Ripert and Maguy Le Coze, the owners of Le Bernardin, have signed a lease to expand their their restaurant on West 51st Street, a plan that will allow them to add more private dining rooms by early next year. The new space is in the Equitable Building, as is Le Bernardin, and formerly housed two other restaurants, first Palio and then Piano Due, which has been closed for some time. Le Bernardin's detailed plans for the new square footage include spaces for wine tastings and cooking demonstrations for private events. But what Le Bernardin most needed was more private dining space. "We'll be able to seat up to 200," Mr. Ripert said. In the private rooms we have now, Les Salons, we can only accommodate 80. We refuse so many parties because we are so limited. They will keep Les Salons open along with the new space, which they will call Le Bernardin Privé. "We feel we will have an edge for things like banquets because we can cook à la minute," Mr. Ripert said. The ground floor bar of the new space will become the Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, named for the sommelier of Le Bernardin. It will serve lunch and dinner and at lunchtime will feature a plat du jour with a glass of wine, which Mr. Ripert said would be "reasonably priced." He added that they hope to stock many local wines. Both spaces will be designed by Bentel & Bentel, the firm that renovated Le Bernardin last year. The vibrant mural in the old Palio, of the centuries-old horse race in the central plaza of Siena, painted by Sandro Chia, will not be part of the décor. The landlord, AXA, owns it and had it removed. "We see this project as the completion of Le Bernardin," Mr. Ripert said.