Masaharu Morimoto is coming back to Tribeca.

Ten years after giving up his post as executive chef at Nobu to bask in the national spotlight as one of the Food Network’s “Iron Chefs,” Morimoto has his sights set on opening his second New York restaurant on Church Street.

“I love Tribeca,” said Morimoto. He and business partners Mark Stone and Chiaki Takada met with members of Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee earlier this month in the hopes of winning support for a liquor license for their as-yet-unnamed restaurant at 313 Church St. No date has been set for its opening.

“It’s been my dream to open a restaurant in Tribeca,” he said. “I still have a lot of friends down here.”

The group plans to open its 143-seat restaurant in the space formerly occupied by Dennis Foy’s eponymous eatery, which closed earlier this year. Stone, Morimoto’s business manager as well as partner in the project, said the fare—a “low-key” blend of traditional and modern Japanese dishes with specialties native to countries around the world—would be a marked departure from the high-end offerings at Morimoto’s flagship restaurant in the Meatpacking District or at Nobu.

“The idea here is that it’s a totally different menu,” Stone said. A sample menu from the new restaurant shows prices topping out at around $24, as compared to $80 at the chef’s 10th Avenue location.

“It’s a more casual, neighborhood kind of feel,” Stone said.

According to the sample menu, the cuisine leans more toward comfort food than cutting-edge. Grilled or fried skewers take the place of the voluminous sushi menus typical of Morimoto’s other establishments. Western staples like fish and chips, homemade bagels and fried bananas are mingled with East Asian standards like hayashi rice, bibimbop and steamed dumplings.

One potential sticking point for the committee members might have been the restaurant’s proposed 4 a.m. closing time. But Morimoto’s team came to the meeting armed with more than 90 signatures from neighborhood residents in support of the operation. Community Board 1 rarely favors bars and restaurants staying open so late, but sometimes makes exceptions for establishments on wide streets. (Most recently, the committee approved a 4 a.m. closing time for a second lounge at Macao Trading Co., next door to 313 Church St.)

The committee unanimously supported Morimoto's liquor license application.

“We were very clear about the closing time when we spoke to the neighbors,” Stone said. “We really think there is a demand for this kind of casual food late at night, not only from industry people, but there are people that are out late or working late that would want this kind of food.”

Morimoto said he knows firsthand—and hears from restaurant workers all the time—of the scarcity of late-night dining options downtown.

“I’m always looking for a place to eat after I finish my job,” Morimoto quipped.