The Search for Stars Begins Restaurants Opening Soon in New York By FLORENCE FABRICANT New Yorkers like to think of their city as an incubator and importer of new ideas and talent. But many of the restaurant openings scheduled for the next several months have a distinctly familiar ring. Among the season’s anticipated arrivals are siblings for established successes like Telepan, Butter, the Michael White organization, Franny’s, Sant Ambroeus, Il Mulino and Bubby’s. Chefs and restaurateurs who have flown under the radar for some time (Amanda Freitag, Akhtar Nawab, Chris Cannon, Marc Murphy, Cedric Tovar and Hok Chin) are re-emerging. Refurbished versions of several veteran restaurants, including Telepan, DB Bistro Moderne, Petaluma and Seäsonal, are on the way. There is even a glimmer of a more distant past: the resurrection of shuttered icons like Tavern on the Green and the theater district standby Gallagher’s. The River Cafe is poised to reopen soon, after suffering grave damage last year in Hurricane Sandy. At the Plaza, expect a refurbished Palm Court, and on the Upper East Side, a new iteration of Le Bilboquet, the chic celebrity haunt (air-kissing allowed). The big question is whether Bobby Flay will reopen Mesa Grill, the restaurant that made his name more than 20 years ago. But even with all the known comforts worth welcoming back, there are surprises. Though New York can always count on steakhouses, this year’s crop is more idiosyncratic than classic in style, like American Cut, where the meats will be grouped on the menu under the headings “dry aged” and “wet aged”; and M. Wells Steakhouse, where Hugue Dufour and Sarah Obraitis again break the mold, repurposing a former auto repair shop. The arrival of the restaurant Somtum Der, bringing Isan Thai fare, will be closely watched, as will All’onda, a Venetian venue with Chris Jaeckle, formerly of Ai Fiori, in the kitchen. Huaiyang cuisine will be featured at China Blue. There’s homage to the clam from Mike Price and Joe Campanaro, and to the rotisserie from Georgette Farkas, Daniel Boulud’s former right hand. Ramen from the Tokyo veteran Ivan Orkin will soon be ready to slurp. And after a year’s delay, diners will get to taste what a Boston team, Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette, have to offer on the tapas bar at Toro. Here are the highlights. Below 14th Street ALL’ONDA Just when you think you have seen every permutation of Italian dining, something new pops up. Chris Jaeckle, the former chef de cuisine at Ai Fiori, and Chris Cannon, an expert on Italian dining and wines, look to Venice and that waterlogged city’s seafood and soupy risottos. Mr. Cannon said about 40 percent of the wine list will be sparkling. (October): 22 East 13th Street (University Place). AMERICAN CUT After a successful start in Atlantic City, Marc Forgione is adding this steakhouse to his cluster of places in TriBeCa. Mr. Forgione, well known for his mohawk haircut, offers another signature here: a tomahawk rib-eye. (September): 363 Greenwich Street (Franklin Street). BAR BOLONAT With a dining room about the same size as her Balaboosta, Einat Admony plans to deliver a playful take on Israeli and Jewish food, with more emphasis on Sephardic flavors than on those from Eastern Europe “I’ll make a Manischewitz reduction as a sauce and try variations on latkes, but the seasonings will be spicy, Middle Eastern,” she said. (November): 611 Hudson Street (West 12th Street). BOTEQUIM On the lower level of their casual restaurant the Fourth, Jo-Ann Makovitzky and Marco Moreira pay homage to Mr. Moreira’s native Brazil with a graphic black-and-white mural and an open kitchen for South American tapas and hearth-roasted whole suckling pigs and fish. (October): 134 Fourth Avenue (East 13th Street). BUBBY’S HIGH LINE Ron Silver will add an uptown edition of his popular TriBeCa restaurant, to be open around the clock, with a retail store for pastries, ice cream, sandwiches and so forth, to fuel the crowds headed for the High Line and, eventually, the new Whitney Museum, right across the street. (October): 73 Gansevoort Street (Washington Street). CAFE MARLTON The restaurateur Sean MacPherson is adding his brand of chic to the redevelopment of West Eighth Street, with this cafe (inspired by Paris and California) in his new boutique hotel, the Marlton. (October): 5 West Eighth Street. CHINA BLUE Building on the somewhat unexpected success of their Sichuan restaurant, Cafe China, which earned a star from Michelin, Yiming Wang and Xian Zhang will now focus on more elegant Shanghai and Huaiyang cuisines. This restaurant, in the space that housed the decades-old Capsouto Frères, will have a retro Shanghai setting. (November): 451 Washington Street (Watts Street). THE CLAM “Do not call this a shack,” said Mike Price. “We’ll have tablecloths and take reservations.” He is joining his fellow Market Table business partner, Joe Campanaro, to open a place where both will be chefs, but clams are the stars. (October): 420 Hudson Street (Leroy Street). 44 ACRES Nahid Ahmed will feature a glimmer of molecular gastronomy in a more formal setting than his pub next door, Malt n Mash. (November): 69 Gansevoort Street (Washington Street). FUNG TU Jonathan Wu, a chef whose résumé includes Per Se, and Wilson Tang, who breathed new life into Nom Wah Tea Parlor, said that the name for this place means wind and soil in Chinese. It will sit where Chinatown meets the Lower East Side (November): 22 Orchard Street (Canal Street). IVAN RAMEN Ivan Orkin, the American chef who made his mark with two ramen places that bear his name in Tokyo, is poised to open a New York version. In the space that was an Ed’s Lobster Bar, he plans to open a restaurant and what he’s calling a Japanese beer garden. (October): 25 Clinton Street (Houston Street). LADURéE The Madison Avenue boutique of the Parisian purveyor of macarons is a mere tidbit compared with this lavish installation in SoHo, a combination restaurant and retail store. The shop will be much bigger than uptown and, with a full kitchen downstairs, will sell cakes and pastries in addition to macarons and chocolates imported from France. The space will encompass three elegant dining areas, one of which will be in a garden. (November): 398 West Broadway (Spring Street). MOSCOW 57 Ellen Kaye and her partners, Seth Goldman and Ethan Fein, will open a compact bistro done in lipstick red, with a menu including Russian, Georgian, Caucasian and contemporary fare. There will be music nightly. (October): 168 ½ Delancey Street (Clinton Street). PAULANER BRäUHAUS AND RESTAURANT The venerable Munich brewery opens its first American installation, a brewery and restaurant. The beers will be traditional and the food contemporary, with a southern German twist. Sausages? Of course! (September): 265-267 Bowery (Houston Street). RESERVE CUT Where Shaun Hergatt moved out, Hok Chin, a chef who worked in kosher restaurants, has moved in. This kosher steakhouse, owned by Albert Allaham, who has a butcher shop in Brooklyn, will feature dry-aged prime meat, which Mr. Chin will address in classic fashion. There is an aging room for the beef on the premises. Asian-accented décor defines the second-floor space, which also has a sushi bar. (October): Setai Wall Street, 40 Broad Street (Wall Street). THE STANDARD, EAST VILLAGE This hotel’s restaurant and cafe will be taken over by John Fraser, the chef and an owner of Dovetail on the Upper West Side. Produce will come from the Hudson Valley farm of the hotel’s owner, André Balazs. (December): 5 Cooper Square (East Fifth Street). TELEPAN LOCAL Bill Telepan’s seasonal, farm-fresh American-style tapas will be featured in the first spinoff of his Upper West Side mainstay. (October): 329 Greenwich Street (Reade Street). TUTTO IL GIORNO TRIBECA The elegant Italian celebrity haunts co-owned by Gabby Karan de Felice, daughter of Donna Karan, in Sag Harbor and Southhampton, N.Y., will open a branch with a menu that will be familiar to Hamptonites (November): 114 Franklin Street (West Broadway). Up to 60th Street AMANDA FREITAG is realizing the dream of many a chef, opening her own restaurant — in her case, in the former Empire Diner, a Chelsea landmark. She has not nailed a name yet, but plans to serve her take on diner fare and eventually open ‘round the clock (October): 210 10th Avenue (West 22nd Street). BO’S Todd Mitgang, the chef at Crave Fishbar, and his partner, Steven Kristel, who own South Edison in Montauk, N.Y., channel the cooking of New Orleans in their latest, with plush booths, mosaic tiles and a downstairs lounge to open later. (September): 6 West 24th Street. GOTHAM WEST MARKET A cluster of dining and shopping counters is being installed in a residential tower on the western edge of Midtown. The designer, AvroKO, will have a station for American roadside fare, like burgers. Other tenants will be the Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop for Japanese noodles; the Cannibal, with small plates and charcuterie; Brooklyn Kitchen, for equipment and classes; Little Chef, for Caroline Fidanza’s soups and salads based on what she serves at Saltie in Brooklyn; Court Street Grocers, with sandwiches; Blue Bottle Coffee; and a Spanish tapas bar, El Colmado, by Seamus Mullen of Tertulia. Seating will be at communal tables, indoors and out. (October): 600 11th Avenue (West 44th Street). KINGSIDE Marc Murphy’s restaurant, with a bold design in black and white, will offer dishes like grilled kale, porchetta and roast chicken for two. But the chef will also step into more daring territory with lamb brains dressed in capers, lemon and brown butter. (October): Viceroy New York Hotel, 120 West 57th Street. LA CENITA The EMM Group, which has a portfolio of big restaurants that tap different cuisines, has put Akhtar Nawab in the kitchen of the former Abe & Arthur’s to devise a Mexican menu of casual fare like quesadillas and ceviche. (September): 409 West 14th Street, (646) 289-3930. THE PEACOCK AND THE SHAKESPEARE PUB The lavish complex of restaurants and bars in the former Williams Club, which is becoming a boutique hotel, will have Robert Aikens, of London and Philadelphia, in the kitchen. (September for the Shakespeare Pub, October for the Peacock): 24 East 39th Street. ROTISSERIE GEORGETTE An open kitchen with two rotisseries for meat and fish, and potatoes sizzled in the drippings, are the main attractions at Georgette Farkas’s first restaurant, with the chef David Malbequi. Will Ms. Farkas, the former spokeswoman and cook for Daniel Boulud, capitalize on what she learned, or shed the shadow of her mentor? The décor will nod to tradition, with Portuguese tile murals. (October): 14 East 60th Street. TORO The Boston chefs Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette plan to deliver their Barcelona-style tapas. (September): 85 10th Avenue (West 15th Street). 1200 MILES Pierre Rougey is the chef at this intersection of Southern France and North Africa, with some American elements, like the obligatory burger, thrown in for good measure. (September): 31 West 21st Street. VILLARD MICHEL RICHARD The name is the umbrella for Mr. Richard’s two restaurants in the New York Palace hotel. The Gallery will be high end, and the other will have a Franco-American bistro menu. (October): 455 Madison Avenue (East 50th Street). Above 60th Street THE CECIL AND MINTON’S Richard Parsons’s restoration project for the Cecil, a restaurant, and Minton’s, a jazz club and restaurant, has Alexander Smalls as the executive chef, overseeing the kitchens of both. (September for the Cecil, October for Minton’s): 210 and 206 West 118th Street THE PARK 112 Small plates bear a global array like red snapper tacos, jerk chicken lettuce wraps and chile crab Rangoon in this sleek restaurant with a sidewalk cafe and a garden. (September): 2080 Frederick Douglass Boulevard (West 112th Street). RISTORANTE MORINI Michael White and the Altamarea Group will serve all-purpose refined Italian at the two-story space on the Upper East Side that housed Centolire. (November): 1167 Madison Avenue (East 86th Street). TAVERN ON THE GREEN Jim Caiola and David Salama, the Philadelphia restaurateurs and caterers who won the city contract to renovate this landmark in Central Park, say they expect to open by year’s end. Mr. Caiola said the restaurant will have three dining rooms, but no Crystal Room. “The look will be very open and park-driven,” he said. “It will look more like the building from the mid-1930s.” An open kitchen will be the showcase for Katy Sparks’s seasonal American and global fare. (December): West 67th Street and Central Park West. TESSA Cedric Tovar, at one time the chef at Peacock Alley in the Waldorf-Astoria, will run the kitchen at this French-Mediterranean place with an industrial look. (November): 349 Amsterdam Avenue (West 77th Street). WRITING ROOM The successor to Elaine’s has been named in homage to the many who frequented that celebrity den. The chef, Lucas Billheimer, will serve East Coast regional fare. (October): 1703 Second Avenue (East 88th Street). Brooklyn MARCO’S Francine Stephens and Andrew Feinberg are turning the original Franny’s into this place, with Danny Amend in the kitchen preparing what he calls “a true Italian feast” — copious platters of simply prepared wood-grilled meats accompanied by seasonal dishes. (September): 295 Flatbush Avenue (St. Marks Avenue), Prospect Heights. NEW BATTERSBY A large, as-yet-unnamed version of the Smith Street shoe box is on the agenda. (November): 412 Court Street (First Place), Carroll Gardens. Queens M. WELLS STEAKHOUSE One of the season’s most anticipated restaurants comes from Hugue Dufour, a chef from Quebec, and his wife, Sarah Obraitis, who run the inventive M. Wells Dinette, inside the museum MoMA PS1. The entrance is through a courtyard cafe; inside are a tank for live trout and a wood-burning grill for cuts of meat, including a bone-in burger (you pull the bone out before you chomp down). And despite the somewhat brutish décor, there will be some polish: many tables will have linen napery, some meats will be carved tableside, desserts will be dispensed from a cart and reservations will be accepted. (October): 43-15 Crescent Street (43rd Avenue), Long Island City. Ready to Serve You in the Next Week CONTRA The chefs Jeremiah Stone and Fabian von Hauske will turn out ever-changing eclectic tasting menus. Expect dishes like sweetbreads with almond milk and pickled cherries, and beets with hazelnut and yogurt. Even the wine list will be revised on a regular basis: 138 Orchard Street (Rivington Street), (212) 466-4633, contranyc. LE BILBOQUET This magnet for the chic and famous closed last year, but the Upper East Side did not have to do without it for long. Philippe Delgrange, with his high-profile partners Ronald Perelman, Steve Witkoff and Eric Clapton (yes, the guitarist), is relocating it just a few blocks away in much bigger digs. He has brought in the chef Julien Jouhannaud, who worked with Alain Ducasse, to turn out its bistro favorites: 20 East 60th Street, (212) 751-3036, lebilboquetny. PAGANI Massimo Lusardi has converted the old Pagani Bros. music store into a neighborhood place, with design input from Taavo Somer and Mark Barrett in the kitchen preparing an Italian-accented, vegetable-focused menu: 289 Bleecker Street (Seventh Avenue South), (212) 488-5800, paganinyc. SOMTUM DER The original, a northern Thai, or Isan, restaurant, is in Bangkok. Its owner, Thanaruek Laoraowirodge, is bringing its boldly flavored cuisine to New York: 85 Avenue A (East Fifth Street), (212) 260-8570, somtumder. This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: Correction: September 4, 2013 An earlier version of an online photo caption with this article misstated the location of All’onda. The restaurant is opening in Greenwich Village, not the Lower East Side.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 03:43:19 +0000
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