Ms. Karp said the city would like to issue a second invitation for proposals for Tavern's future "soon".
As for the LeRoy family, "We've done a lot of homework to set forth the best proposal," said Michael Desiderio, Tavern's chief operating officer.
Mr. Greenberg, president of Sterling Group Management, said his team had put together a "serious and ambitious" proposal to take over Tavern, calling it "probably the most precious restaurant in the world, given its location and prominence".
One might think that these taverns would be full of smiles now, given the proposal announced on Jan . 7by President Bush to give work visas to illegal immigrants.
The plan was described in a 57-page spiral-bound proposal — supplied by a person with knowledge of Tavern's operations who was not authorized to make it public — that was submitted to New York City last year by the restaurant's last operator, Jennifer Oz LeRoy.
The next round of proposals from restaurateurs who would like to run Tavern on the Green could come later this year, and among them may well be a previously undisclosed plan that would transform both the restaurant, which has landmark status, and a stretch of Central Park.
There was the dinner with Abe at the Minetta Tavern, where she showed up in an uncharacteristically girlish dress, hoping for a proposal, and got a very modern proposition instead.
Friday is the deadline for proposals to establish a casual restaurant and bar in the tavern space, just west of the Sheep Meadow, near 67th Street and Central Park West.
Instead, MCC members will be presented with modest proposals that will probably begin with the redevelopment of the Allen and Tavern Stands and will not require outside financial involvement.
The parks department is hoping that Wednesday's walk-through will prompt a round of proposals from operators who could work out an arrangement with the union representing Tavern's former workers, an obstacle that defied previous efforts at revival.
