Toast to the return of legendary NYC restaurants — plus new Danny Meyer destinations, edgy veggie spots and plenty more.
Return of the Titans
This year, not one but two landmarked legends are set to make big comebacks.
Feb. 6 is now the target opening date for the new Tavern on the Green. “Reopen” would be wrong, because the restaurant will bear no resemblance to the LeRoy family’s glassy, glitzy celebration site.
But it will still be huge — if not as huge as its predecessor — with 300 indoor seats in two dining rooms and a bar, plus 300 more on an outdoor terrace when the weather warms up. Gone is the old Crystal Room. In its place are the Central Park West site’s original 1800s “sheepfold” buildings, immaculately restored and burnished by the city.
The menu promises to be classy but casual modern-American, drawing heavily on locally sourced products — no surprise given talented chef Katy Sparks’ affinity for first-class, seasonally attuned ingredients.
But no one really knows what to expect. Do little-known restaurateurs Jim Caiola and David Salama, who were surprisingly tapped to revive the location that’s been dark for four years, have the know how for an operation immeasurably more complex than their little corner creperie in Philadelphia?
Can Sparks — who headed up kitchens at small venues such as Quilty’s in Soho, and more recently worked as a consultant — handle such a high-volume, sit-down restaurant?
The project has bedeviled the city and the management team. The $10 million exterior restoration took longer than expected. As recently as August, the scaffold-covered site looked little nearer to being ready than it had a year before.
But Caiola and Salama overcame earlier financing glitches. And the New York Hotel Trades Council agreed to let them run the place for two years before workers may unionize.
Meanwhile, 30 Rockefeller Plaza landlord Tishman Speyer plans to reopen the iconic Rainbow Room, closed since 2009, by fall 2014. As a city-designated interior landmark, the new edition of the sky-high venue will closely resemble its iconic former self, unlike Tavern, where only the exteriors must be preserved.
Yet details remain scarce. Tishman Speyer has not said which night or nights the Rainbow Room will be open as a public restaurant. Although a special events director was recently named, neither a chef nor a full management team has been announced.
But the big news is that both places are coming back. Here’s rooting for them to be better restaurants than their predecessors, for real New Yorkers — not only tourists — to love.
Danny Meyer on the Move
The city’s reigning hospitality king is never one to let grass grow under his feet, and this year, he’s got plenty under way. In mid-2014, Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group is set to open a hotly anticipated new Italian restaurant within the King & Grove New York hotel (29 E. 29th St.), with Maialino executive chef Nick Anderer in the kitchen. In the fall, Meyer will open Porchlight (28th Street and 11th Avenue), a massive, 4,000-square-foot, Southerntinged bar that will be an offshoot of his Blue Smoke barbecue joints. Expect microbrews, signature cocktails and down-home food.
Holy Molé
Mission Cantina was just the beginning. A slew of new upscale Mexican spots are set to open in the city this year, and they’re serving up anything but boring burritos.
Indochine owners Jean-Marc Houmard and Hui Chi Lee, along with their Acme partner Jon Neidich, are planning to add Asian accents to their new asyet- unnamed Mexican place, due this spring at 151 Essex St. Among the dishes: sepia salad with chorizo, ginger, celery and potatoes; mini tamales with pork belly and chili jam; shrimp tempura tacos with ginger and spicy black bean sauce; and shredded duck empanadas with five spice foie gras and cognac.
Serge Becker, who has had major hits with Miss Lily’s and La Esquina, is teaming with the Tao/Strategic Group to open a branch of the London hit Bodega Negra in the Dream Downtown (355 W. 16th St.) this February. Dishes such as soft-shell crab tacos will make the trip across the pond.
Elsewhere, Toloache has just opened a new location at 205 Thompson St., featuring new dishes like scallops with quinoa risotto and crab tostadas. Still to come, Stephen Starr, of Buddakan and Morimoto fame, is bringing a branch of his Tijuana-style Philadelphia restaurant El Vez to Battery Park City (259 Vesey St.), and Ofrenda chef Mario Hernandez and his partner Jorge Guzman are opening a new spot called The Black Ant at 60 Second Ave. later this month. It will serve adventurous, contemporary Mexican dishes like braised rabbit chilacayote enchiladas and duck-fat confit potatoes. To top it off, Empellon’s Alex Stupak hopes to debut a new restaurant on St. Marks Place later this year.
One-stop Dining in the Fi-Di
The downtown food scene has been on the rise for years, but now the Financial District is set to officially become a culinary destination. This spring, the dining gallery will open within the newly renovated Brookfield Place (né the World Financial Center) mall. It will feature 14 top fastcasual spots, among them new outposts of Mighty Quinn’s barbecue and Umami Burger. Late in the year, five new sitdown restaurants will open in the mall, including a new location of Torrisi’s Parm.
“We are very excited,” says Parm’s Jeff Zalaznick. “It is a vibrant neighborhood that is very passionate about food.”
Most exciting of all is a 30,000-square-foot French marketplace — think a Gallic Eataly — set to open in late 2014. Oui oui!
Eat Your Veggies!
Forget the steakhouses and barbecue joints — this year, it’s all about eating your greens.
“The world has changed,” says chef Amanda Cohen, who’s set to expand her haute East Village vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy to a second location in the fall, bringing dishes like spinach and grapefruit mille-feuille to the Lower East Side (86 Allen St.). “It will be quadruple the space, with a bigger menu and a cocktail list,’’ she enthuses.
Meanwhile, Jean-Georges Vongerichten is going strictly vegetarian with a new restaurant at 38 E. 19th St., tentatively called ABC Home Grown and set to open this spring. Expect the vibrant flavors the chef is known for and chic decor courtesy of ABC home store’s CEO Paulette Cole.
And new restaurants that aren’t strictly plantbased are expanding their herbivore options. Pergola, a Greek- and Turkish-influenced spot that opened this week at 36 W. 28th St., has a separate menu for vegetarians, as will David Burke’s upcoming outpost at the Archer Hotel (45 W. 39th St.), set to premiere in April.
“Vegetables have become the stars of the plate,’’ says Burke.
Other Notable Openings
Uptown
The Regency Bar & Grill: When the Loews Regency hotel reopens after a $100 million renovation, it will feature this flagship restaurant from Sant Ambroeus’ Gherardo Guarducci and Dimitri Pauli (540 Park Ave.; early 2014).
Babeth’s Feast: Everything’s frozen — chicken tarragon, banana apple crumble — at this new retail store (1422 Third Ave.; March).
Boqueria UES: The uptown location of the popular tapas spot will be the first one with a dedicated churros station (1460 Second Ave.; spring).
Lenox Lounge: Nobu’s Richie Notar redoes the historic Harlem jazz club (288 Lenox Ave.; late spring).
Mr. Henry’s Bakery: Actor Dwight Henry ( “12 Years a Slave”) opens a Harlem outpost of his famous New Orleans bakery (288 Lenox Ave.; late spring).
Midtown
The Little Beet: Former Abe & Arthur’s chef Franklin Becker serves ingredient-driven fast-casual fare (135 W. 50th St.; 212-459-2338; now open).
Limani: This offshoot of a popular Long Island restaurant will serve Mediterranean seafood in a 8,000-square-foot space overlooking Rock Center (45 Rockefeller Plaza; winter).
Tender: Tasty twins Daniel and Derek Koch, known for their raucous brunch parties, will debut a spot in the Sanctuary Hotel just in time for Fashion Week (132 W. 47th St.; February).
To-be-named Jesse Schenker Project: The highly regarded Recette chef will open a more casual eatery (15 W. 18th St.; spring).
Aldo Sohm Wine Bar: Le Bernardin expands with an upscale boîte up the street serving small plates and wines curated by Eric Ripert’s sommelier (151 W. 51st St.; TBD).
Downtown
All’onda: Michael White’s ex partner, Chris Cannon, has opened a Venetian restaurant with Asian influences (22 E. 13th St.; 212-231-2236; now open).
Telepan Local: Uptown chef Bill Telepan’s new small-plates place brings his sophisticated farm-to-table fare to Tribeca (329 Greenwich St.; 212-966-9255; now open).
Il Principe: Northern Italian cuisine from the team behind the Lion and Bill’s Food and Drink in the soon-to-open Hotel Hugo (525 Greenwich St.; January).
Ramen Lab: Ramen demigod Shigetoshi Nakamura won’t just serve soup, he’ll educate slurpers on different types of noodles (70 Kenmare St.; March).
La Compagnie Des Vins Surnaturels: A new winebar from the Experimental Cocktail Club guys serving Peruvian-inspired food. (247-249 Centre St.; March).
Azasu: The team behind Yopparai, a LES izakaya gem, will open a more casual spot with a full liquor license (49 Clinton St.; April).
Baked: The Tribeca location of Red Hook’s beloved bakery will feature a bigger space, longer hours, beer and wine — in addition to the haute retro treats it’s known for (279 Church St.; spring).
Outer Boroughs
El Born: Greenpoint’s restaurant scene continues to heat up with this tapas spot (651 Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint; 347-844-9295; now open).
Emily: This new pizza joint from a Spotted Pig alum will have a signature pie topped with truffled ricotta, pistachios and honey (919 Fulton St., Clinton Hill; 347-844- 9588; January).
Okonomi: Smorgasburg success Yuji Haraguchi will serve savory Japanese pancakes (150 Ainslie St., Williamsburg; March).