Opening
Kisa
In South Korea, roadside diners that cater to taxi drivers are called kisa sikdang, or “driver’s restaurants,” and serve baekban (homestyle) fare like bibimbap, spicy pork or local, fresh seafood with rice and banchan. Kisa serves most of these as well as bulgogi and spicy squid. The owners, David JoonWoo Yun, Steve JaeWoo Choi and Yong Min Kim, all South Korean natives, are behind C as in Charlie in the NoHo. (Taxi drivers prefer rice dishes to soups, they say, because bathroom breaks are rare.) The room’s vintage touches include Korean calendars, wall-mounted fans and a machine that dispenses free coffee. (Opens Saturday)
Rosemary’s
Hail a tractor to head for the third of Carlos Suarez’s farmhouse-style Italian restaurants, named for his mother and incongruously installed among glass and steel towers. The airy dining room opens to sidewalk seating, and a small retail area and a private dining room are tucked in the back. La Sagra, a new family-style spread of assorted antipasti followed by pasta and dessert, is $39 per person with $1 going to God’s Love We Deliver. Pizzas, including one with spring peas and artichokes, are also new. Much of the produce comes from McEnroe Organic Farm in the Hudson Valley which is co-owned by the Durst Organization, the owner of the building.
Bar Primi Penn District
The Madison Square Garden and Manhattan West area, steps from the Moynihan Train Hall, was once a restaurant desert. It is now bustling with dining options, including this uptown edition of the Italian Bowery restaurant from NoHo Hospitality, the chef Andrew Carmellini’s team. It’s in a former warehouse with a thickly planted patio.
Chica & the Don
This luxurious Flatiron district venue, which feels like a supper club, offers a richly interpreted menu of Latin American food and drinks, featuring dishes like short rib and maduro quesadilla, and fried red snapper in a coconut-tomato sauce. Tropical fruits flavor the drinks. Music and dancing are on the agenda. (Friday)
Panko Pizza
Many pizzaiolos strew a handful of semolina on the pan for a crisp crust that doesn’t stick. At his new pizzeria, Fran Garcia, best known as the owner of Artichoke Basille’s with many locations, coats his crusts with olive oil and dips them in panko for the same effect.
On the Menu
Japanese Wines
Leo Lê, the beverage director for Momoya restaurants, has added Japanese wines, much improved, he says, to his French list for the first time. Japan’s hilly wine region in Yamanashi Prefecture is the source. Branca Clareza 2022 by Aruga is 100 percent Koshu, a Japanese grape variety, pale and pinkish, light on the palate and fine with delicate raw seafood ($17 a glass). Aruga’s Branca Pipa 2019, ($180 a bottle), also Koshu, has seen some oak for richer complexity to accompany various dishes. Domaine Mie Ikeno’s smooth merlot, immature pinot noir and elegant chardonnay are rare, expensive ($315 a bottle) and, like the Branca Pipa, only on Momoya’s SoHo wine list.
Shopping
Laurel Bakery
Nico Russell, Steve Wong and Piper Kristensen of Redwood Hospitality, the owners of Oxalis in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, now closed, have opened this bakery inspired mostly by France, but with touches of Italy and Japan. It will both serve its corner of Brooklyn and supply their restaurant, Place des Fêtes. Soon their original Prospect Heights space will become an all-day cafe; Oxalis will relocate.
Chefs on the Move
Margot Combat
This marquee drinks expert has arrived in New York to take up residence at the chef Alain Ducasse’s Benoit until June 11, turning the bar into a Cheffe Cocktail pop-up. Margot Lecarpentier — who previously worked in New York bars and whose bar, Combat, in the Belleville neighborhood of Paris, gave the chef her nickname — has become the executive chef-mixologist for Ducasse Paris, Mr. Ducasse’s group. Known for innovative flavors, she will mix six signature drinks here, including a Jamaican Negroni with dark and white rums, Campari and vermouth; and the Chubu Spritz with pear spirit, vermouth, Bénédictine, grapefruit, vinegar, absinthe and soda.
Looking Ahead
Parrish Art Museum
The East End of Long Island has been a food source, from land and sea, long before settlers from New England arrived. It continues to this day. From Sunday through June 30, the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, N.Y., will display “The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation,” with drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures and ceramics, many by contemporary artists and many with ties to the region. Special events and talks related to the exhibit are planned.
One Madison Avenue
Daniel Boulud’s first steak house, La Tête d’Or by Daniel, is to make its debut in November in the new office tower across from Madison Square Park’s southern perimeter. Designed by Rockwell Group, it will have a 150-seat dining room for slabs of beef and more, done in American and Parisian styles, notably with French sauces. A bar area, a private dining room and an omakase steak and seafood counter are the potatoes alongside the meat. The sandwich shop Alidoro will occupy part of the building’s ground floor.
Michelin
The French guidebooks have announced 10 restaurants that are being added to the New York lineup of more than 400 places. They are Bangkok Supper Club, Bar Miller, Barrio, Cecily, L’abeille à Côté, Moono, Nōksu, Shota Omakase, Untable and, on the rebound, Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare.
Closing
Restaurant Marc Forgione
First opened in 2008, this flagship for the chef and restaurateur who also has Trattoria One Fifth, Peasant and Khe-Yo in his portfolio will close after dinner on Friday. Mr. Forgione will soon reopen it in the grand space that once housed David Bouley’s Danube and Brushstroke, at 30 Hudson Street.
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