New York restaurateurs offer a robust fall lineup despite reduced hours because of staff shortages caused by the pandemic. This is a season of …
New York restaurateurs offer a robust fall lineup despite reduced hours because of staff shortages caused by the pandemic. This is a season of restaurant reopenings. Down time during the pandemic permitted a number of favorites to renovate and some of the city’s major destination areas to offer new dining options. For others, unsuccessful lease negotiations forced closings, but several soon found new locations close enough to keep their loyal customers. Well-loved places are reopening in new surroundings or adding nearby satellite locations, and some familiar chefs are rebooting and broadening their repertoires. The most tempting newcomers are those that till new ground: There are enough cookie-cutter lists of tuna tartare, Caesar salad, fried calamari, grilled branzino and fillet of beef.
Chefs Make Moves
ESSENTIAL BY CHRISTOPHE Simpler French interpretations like braised black sea bass with razor clams and curry emulsion are what Christophe Bellanca, formerly at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, has in mind for his Upper West Side restaurant. 103 West 77th Street, November.
HAV & MAR It’s been about seven years since Marcus Samuelsson unwrapped something new in New York, and this time the focus will be seafood at Hav & Mar, a 125-seat space in Chelsea. With the chef Rose Noël, who was at Maialino Mare in Washington, D.C., he’s combining modern Black cuisine with tastes of Scandinavia and Ethiopia in dishes like berbere-cured salmon in corn broth. 245 11th Avenue (26th Street), early October.
HÔTEL BARRIÈRE FOUQUET’S NEW YORK This TriBeCa outpost of the celebrated Champs-Élysées brasserie will offer an easygoing modern French menu conceived by the marquee chef, Pierre Gagnaire, with escargots, sole meunière, cheeseburgers, fish and chips, and their signature mille-feuille dessert. 456 Greenwich Street (Desbrosses Street), late September.
JOJI Imagining Daniel Boulud running a Japanese restaurant is like having Nobutoss salade Lyonnaise. But Mr. Boulud will indeed oversee the new Joji with the chef George Ruan, an alumnus of Masa, at the intimate sushi bar several floors below Le Pavillon and adjacent to Grand Central Terminal. One Vanderbilt Avenue (42nd Street), Sept. 14.
KOLOMAN The chef Markus Glocker and his partners will replace the Breslin in the Ace Hotel in NoMad with a new restaurant named for Koloman Moser, a founder of the Wiener Werkstätte, whose style influences the restaurant’s design. Though a scintilla of his native Austria is evident, the food is essentially French with dishes like an updated salmon en crôute. Ace Hotel, 16 West 29th Street, Sept. 15.
KRU Lofty royal Thai cuisine, in a Williamsburg, Brooklyn, space that displays the ingredients throughout the dining room, will be produced by the chef Ohm Suansilphong of the highly regarded, but less elaborate Fish Cheeks, and his wife, the pastry chef Kiki Supap. The couple is refining often historic recipes, for dishes like creamy lobster with turmeric, served family-style. 190 North 14th Street (Wythe Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Sept. 12.
MISCHA Alex Stupak is taking a break from his Mexican juggernaut with his new Midtown restaurant, which will serve his version of new American cooking, even a hot dog. Citigroup Center, 157 East 53rd Street, late October.
PECKING HOUSE Eric Huang created Pecking House as takeout only from his family’s Peking House restaurant in Queens, now closed. He’s bringing his fiery fried chicken to Brooklyn, no secret password needed, along with a “sloppy po” ma po tofu sandwich and optional foie gras on the crispy chicken sandwich. There will be 45 seats. 244 Flatbush Avenue (St. Marks Avenue), Park Slope, Brooklyn, early September.
TATIANA Kwame Onwuachi, who has returned to New York, will run a spacious restaurant named for his older sister in the fully renovated David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center. It will open soon after the New York Philharmonic returns, and have a street entrance. Its style will bring more jazz than symphony to the hall with a menu that touches on Afro-Caribbean, and iconic New York fare with dishes like bodega-style chopped cheese buns and braised oxtails. David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, October.
A Revival at Rockefeller Center
For several years, like the Sport Ice machine sweeping the rink in winter, Tishman Speyer, the owner-manager of Rockefeller Center, has been clearing out most of the complex’s restaurants and adding a new collection. They’ve gone Downtown and to Brooklyn to refresh their Midtown magnet. Lodi by Ignacio Mattos and Le Rock from Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr have already been established on the street level and JJ Johnson is in the Concourse. And there will be more.
FIVE ACRES A varied American menu from the Brooklyn chef Greg Baxtrom for breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served in a room filled with greenery. Rink Level, November.
JUPITER The owners of King in Hudson Square — Jess Shadbolt, Annie Shi and Clare de Boer — will bring Italian to the former Sea Grill space, with a strong emphasis on pasta and wine. They’ve enlisted a former colleague, Gaz Herbert of the River Cafe in London, as executive chef. 19 West 49th Street, October.
NARO High-end Korean fare by Junghyun and Ellia Park of Atomix will be served in an indoor setting. Rink level, October.
Arriving in Grand Central
CITY WINERY GRAND CENTRAL, CITY JAMS and CORNELIUS In Grand Central Terminal, City Winery will be taking over where the Great Northern Food Hall and Agern once thrived. In the former food hall, part of Vanderbilt Hall, there will be City Jams, providing grab-and-go-quick-serve and City Winery for sit-down dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And for the first time, winemaking will be on the schedule for Grand Central. The elegant Cornelius will move into the former Agern, retaining the fine woodwork but dressing it up a bit and serving dishes like oysters Vanderbilt. Grand Central Terminal, 89 East 42nd Street, Oct. 25.
Reboots With a Bang
MAIALINO (VICINO) Maialino, Danny Meyer’s homage to Rome, will not return to the Gramercy Park Hotel for the time being, but as Maialino (vicino) will replace his Caffé Marchio and Vini e Fritti in the Redbury nearby. The executive chef, Joe Downey-Zayas, will realize a trattoria menu including radicchio with walnuts, pecorino and pear; bucatini all’amatriciana; tonnarelli cacio e pepe; malfatti with suckling pig and chicken alla diavola. Redbury Hotel, 30 East 30th Street, October.
MASALAWALA The indefatigable Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya have revised the approach they took on the Lower East Side and brought it to Brooklyn with Masalawala. True to its name, meaning spice merchant, spice blends and other ingredients are for sale. 365 Fifth Avenue (Sixth Street), Park Slope, Brooklyn, September.
MORGAN’S BROOKLYN BARBECUE After a major fire and 17 months of complicated rebuilding, Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue has been reborn on Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, with a look that’s familiar though updated with 45 seats and an outdoor patio. A smoked brisket Philadelphia cheese steak will be added to the menu. 267 Flatbush Avenue (St. Marks Avenue), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, September.
ORIGINAL PAPPAS TAVERNA Its scale is epic, a vast duplex with a wood-burning oven in Greenwich Village. It’s a reopening after a 47-year hiatus. The restaurateur Stratis Morfogen, who never thinks small, is reviving a Greek family restaurant that was on East 14th Street from 1910 to 1975. 103 Macdougal Street (Minetta Lane), Sept. 22.
SUPERIORITY BURGER The new location near its former spot will provide ample seating for fans of its vegetarian fare. 119 Avenue A (East Eighth Street), November.
T-BAR Tony Fortuna’s Upper East Side hangout known for steaks is relocating into three levels on the edge of the Upper East Side. 116 East 60th Street, September.
TORRISI BAR & RESTAURANT At more than three times the size of the old Torrisi Italian Specialties, with its Frank Sinatra cooking, Torrisi Bar & Restaurant is now in the Puck Building, satisfying an encore requirement for Rich Torrisi to stay in the same neighborhood as the original. Linguine with Manhattan clam sauce and crab stracciatelli soup will again be on the menu. More of the building’s architectural features will be visible. And as on Mulberry Street, “there will be goods on shelves,” Mr. Torrisi said. And lemon ices for dessert. 275 Mulberry Street (Houston Street), Sept. 15.
Second Helpings
AINSLIE A giant serving of seconds is Ainslie, a beer hall, wine bar and garden spawned by a smaller original in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, going into 20,000 square feet featuring John DeLucie’s wood-fired pizzas and pasta. 199 Bowery (Rivington Street), Sept. 29.
KINGFISHER The winemaker, sommelier and restaurateur André Hueston Mack’s compact seafood spot, near his & Sons ham bar, is where the Canadian chef Nico Bouter is devising a menu with raw, hot and cold choices. 505 Rogers Avenue (Midwood Street), Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, late September.
L’AMI PIERRE With Pierre-Antoine Raberin, a partner in Ladurée, Eric Ripert, the chef and an owner of Le Bernardin, is opening a cafe, mainly for grab-and-go almost next door to his restaurant. “It makes sense,” Mr. Ripert said. “Everything I have is right here.” He said that Mr. Raberin — who has more expertise in croissants, sandwiches and the like than he does — will run it. 149 West 51st Street, September.
LORD’S At Lord’s, contemporary English fare “a long way from the bangers-and-mash of previous generations,” is how Patricia Howard and Ed Szymanski, the owners of Dame, describe what they have in store for this sibling. 506 LaGuardia Place (Bleecker Street), October.
MERMAID INN A new whale of a Mermaid Inn is taking over the former Heartland Brewery near Times Square with 550 seats, including five private dining rooms and two bars for oyster happy hours and the signature lobster roll. 127 West 43rd Street, October.
MONSEIUR VO Madame Vo BBQ did not survive the pandemic, so Monsieur Vo, serving hearty meat and seafood dishes is moving into its space. 104 Second Avenue (East Sixth Street), Sept. 14.
THE REVELIE LUNCHEONETTE Shoebox will define Karim Raoul and David Honeysett’s Revelie Luncheonette, a diner-style spot to occupy what was once a butcher shop run by Raoul’s. Mr. Raoul promises it will deliver a whiff of the much beloved Florent. 179 Prince Street, late November.
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