Openings -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Archive of Openings

Openings

8/28/08

2:05 PM

Ellis Will Charm You With Rattlesnake Kebabs

Charming snake.Photo: Melissa Hom

When chef-owner Seth Ellis rolls out his full menu at recently opened Ellis by the end of next week, the I’d-go-to-Brooklyn-for-that item will definitely be the rattlesnake skewers. Ellis tells us snake was a real treat back when he was a chef in Arizona, where it’s served in the form of chicken-nugget-like filets, or in rattlesnake chili. He tenderizes his meat (acquired from a Colorado rattlesnake ranch) by marinating it overnight in grapefruit and lime juices and roasted garlic. The kebabs are then skewered next to orange and lemon zests, along with grilled vegetables, to lighten up the meat’s pungent flavor. Other menu standouts: Navajo fry bread, Navajo lamb stew, and what Ellis says he hopes will be the “best chicken wing in New York,” made with a chipotle marinade and served with the sweet, spicy red-pepper jelly that his mother Sue used to sell in airport gift shops. Now if we could just combo those snake kebabs with the kangaroo skewers at Eight Mile Creek.

See Ellis Bar, inside and out. »

Openings

8/26/08

5:00 PM

Ramen Wars: Minca Opens New One, Pooh-Poohs Momofuku

Former site of Gregory's Coffee.Photo: Daniel Maurer

Shigeto Kamada, the man behind Minca Ramen Factory, is opening Kambi Ramen House on 14th Street. With the help of YT Design, which also worked on Ippudo, he hopes the 30-seat space (ten counter seats, several tables) will be much more comfortable, “with a better environment.” Don’t expect anything as lavish as Ippudo, though, and rest assured Minca’s menu won’t change here — “It will be authentic Japanese style. I’m not interested too much in New York style, like Momofuku,” Kamada tells us, laughing. “I don’t complain [about Momofuku], it’s just different. I’m an old man — 55 years old — so I love authentic Japanese ramen.” And so do we! Therefore we implore ConEd to turn on the gas so the joint can open.

Kambi Ramen House, 351 E. 14th St., nr. First Ave.

More: Tags: east village, kambi ramen house, minca ramen factory, momofuku, Shigeto Kamada

Openings

8/25/08

2:55 PM

A First Look at Apothéke, Opening September 5

No opium-smoking, please.Photo: Noah Kalina

And here she is — your first look inside Apothéke, the apothecary-themed cocktail bar that ~~bar chef~~ apotheker Trummer will open inside a former opium den on September 5 (reservations will be accepted starting tomorrow, depending on Verizon). Co-owner Christopher Tierney modeled the lounge after old European apothecaries, which did indeed sometimes have bars — he designed the banquettes and added a large red couch and a small ottoman that Trummer scored from his buddy Daniel Boulud when Daniel closed for its makeover. The light sconces will be filled with an absinthe-like herbal liquid that emits a soothing scent.

Cool ceiling! »

More: Tags: albert trummer, apotheke, chinatown, christopher tierney, cocktails, golden flower, nightlife

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Openings

8/25/08

11:20 AM

Cutest, Weirdest Little Outdoor Café in the City?

It’s no Siberia, but the Top Café Tibet, which opened in Ditmas Park this summer, has to have one of the coolest locations in the city. It’s perched directly above some exposed outdoor train tracks — but that hasn’t stopped the owners from turning its front patio, so small it can accommodate only two tables, into a shady, breezy retreat festooned with fake flowers. The view you see here is from the Cortelyou Road subway station (pardon the bars). The menu includes inexpensive Tibetan specialties such as tingmo (steamed bread) and momos (beef, chicken, or veggie dumplings that can be topped with hot or very hot sauce), as well as rolls that are prepared at a tiny, three-seat sushi bar in the deli next door (Himalayan Sushi Inc.). Best part — since the deli is connected to the café via a passageway, you can grab cheap Russian beers out of the fridge and crack them on the patio. Not a bad way to kill time while waiting for the train.

Himalayan Sushi Inc. and Top Tibet Café, 1510 Cortelyou Rd., nr. Marlborough Rd., Ditmas Park, Brooklyn; 718-282-3750 or 646-785-1593

More: Tags: ditmas park, himalayan sushi inc., outdoor dining, top cafe tibet

Openings

8/22/08

1:30 PM

Apothéke Will Bring Opium Back to Chinatown

Right this way.Photo: Daniel Maurer

We’ve just gotten details of Apothéke, the cocktail bar that the acclaimed Albert Trummer (formerly a mixologist for Town, David Bouley, and the Thompson Hotel) has installed on Doyers Street, the curvy one-block stretch once known as the “Bloody Angle” that will soon become the Freemans Alley of Chinatown. Is this going to be amazing? Yes, we believe it will be, and not just because the address once housed an opium den. In fact, we’re so psyched that we’re not even going to laugh at Trummer for ditching the term “bar chef” for the even more high-falutin “apothéker,” since his drinks, some of which use recipes he has collected from monasteries, will rely heavily on rare and imported herbs and botanicals.

250 cocktails. »

More: Tags: albert tummer, apotheke, chinatown, christopher tierney, cocktails, heather tierney, nightlife

Openings

8/12/08

1:25 PM

Free Frozen Yogurt Today in the Financial District

Photo: Courtesy Yorganic

Newest frozen-yogurt stop Yorganic officially opens at 3 Hanover Square tomorrow, but the shop is giving away free five-ounce samples (with a topping!) right now and will do so until 4 p.m. The aspiring chain was conceived by pharmacists who make their original and green-tea flavors with organic yogurt, milk, and sugar. Toppings, spanning fruit to candy, are organic. There's also juices, smoothies, and free Wi-Fi. Good luck to them, but they might need something a little less generic to compete with Red Mango's $12 million cash infusion. —Alexandra Vallis

Yorganic, 3 Hanover Sq., at Beaver St., 212-968-9700

Menu, Page 1 [PDF]
Menu, Page 2 [PDF]

More: Tags: financial district, frozen yogurt, yorganic

Openings

8/11/08

5:00 PM

A First Look at Spiegelworld’s Waterfront Restaurant

Over the big tops.Photo: Daniel Maurer

As promised, here’s your first look at Spiegelworld’s newly installed beer garden and restaurant. You may have to pay a cover to enter after 9 p.m., so our advice is to head there after work for Heartland Brewery drafts. Should you find yourself in need of sobering after a few too many frozen margs or kiwi-and-absinthe cocktails, there's a Jack’s Stir Brew Coffee stand doling out shade-grown fair-trade coffee mixed with Hudson Valley milk. Look for it next to the fortune-teller’s table and the dance tent sponsored by “silent dance party” Headphone Disco. In addition to stand-up tables near the bar and a few seats next to a waste-of-space Boucheron jewelry exhibit (um?), there’s a tented waitress-service area that, as you can see in the following shots, offers prime viewing of the illuminated waterfalls.

Le menu. »

More: Tags: heartland brewery, nightlife, south street seaport, spiegel tent, spiegel world

Openings

8/ 8/08

5:45 PM

New Restaurant Opens in Little Egypt: No Hookahs Allowed

Somewhat comical.

Eastern Nights Café, a lounge on the hookah-happy section of Steinway Street known as Little Egypt, will open a formal next-door dining room tonight for those who don’t want to be bothered with sheesha smoke as they enjoy delicacies such as the place’s foot-long grilled-liver sandwich with spicy pickled vegetables. The menu will be more or less the same as the lounge next-door, which currently offers entrées such as vegetables with pigeon, fatta with lamb cutlets, baby boneless chicken, kofta kebab, and a “Viagra sandwich” that, mysteriously, contains fish, rather than the Rocky Mountain oysters you can get at, say, Ali’s Kebab Café, across the street (according to a Chowhounder, Eastern Nights did once serve a “tongue and testicles” combo). A benefit of going the sandwich route is that you get a free Egyptian peach, pineapple, or apple soda. Good to have options, but cheap-hookah fiends that we are, we probably won’t be setting foot inside of the restaurant until colder weather puts the kibosh on the café’s sidewalk tables.

Eastern Nights Restaurant, 25-35-37 Steinway St., nr. 25th Ave., Astoria, 718-204-7608

More: Tags: astoria, eastern nights cafe, little egypt

Openings

8/ 4/08

3:30 PM

La Maison du Chocolat to Open on Wall Street With New Look

From left, La Maison du Chocolat uptown and the chocolatier's sleek new look. Photo Courtesy of La Maison du Chocolate.

Parisian-based chocolatier La Maison du Chocolat will open a boutique and dessert café (its third New York location) at 63 Wall Street in October. The 30-year-old brand is eschewing its old-world, dark-wood look for a spare, bleached-blond setting that’s been unveiled in Paris and will eventually be adopted at both the Rockefeller Center and Madison Avenues outlets. Look for the usual platoons of cacao-rich bonbons and macarons, as well as a small seating area for hot chocolate and pastries. The new design is more Louis Vuitton than a sweets shop, but La Maison will fit in nicely with chichi neighbors such as Tiffany and Hermés. And in these troubling economic times, chocolate is a much more affordable treat for the courtesan than anything in a little blue box. —Alexandra Vallis

More: Tags: chocolate, dessert, financial district, la maison du chocolat

Openings

7/22/08

11:20 AM

Matt Levine Won’t Let You Into the Eldridge Unless You’re His Friend

“It’s a place that I want to keep kind of stealth.”Rendering courtesy of the Eldridge

As you might have heard, the Lower East Side has a new hidden lounge-restaurant, and even though it only has thirteen tables, it’s manned by chaperones, butlers, table attendants, and a hospitality consultant. So what exactly are all these things? Our own Jada Yuan asked owner Matt Levine, the designer of Steelo, to explain them to us and to tell us just why his new spot, the Eldridge, is going to remedy what he thinks is the staleness and lack of creativity in the current nightlife scene.

"Our floors are golden, but they look like wood planks." »

More: Tags: lower east side, matt levine, nightlife, steelo, the eldridge