Opening
Kappo Sono
“Elevated” has become the word of choice lately to describe restaurants. But for a truly elevated kaiseki experience, take the lift up to the sixth floor of a Union Square building where the chef Chikara Sono, who was an owner of Kyo-Ya (now closed) in the East Village, presides over a 12-seat counter. At a single seating per evening, he will serve nine courses plus desserts, $350, including yellowtail cured like prosciutto, abalone and truffle croquettes, and Wagyu beef tongue. Leo Lê, the beverage director, includes Japanese labels on the wine list, as he has done at the Momoya restaurants. Opens Friday)
Liz’s Book Bar
Maura Cheeks, an author whose novel, “Acts of Forgiveness” was published earlier this year, knows how solitary a writer’s life can be. So her goal, in opening a book store, a project inspired by her grandmother Elizabeth Parker, was a place that was welcoming. “I wanted a space where people can connect,” she said. Amid the bookshelves there’s a bar serving coffee, tea, pastries by Bien Cuit, beer and wine. Sandwiches are coming. “It’s hard to run a book store these days,” she said, “and it’s good to have another revenue stream.”
Il Mulino Prime Steakhouse
Offer a selection of eggs Benedict and you have brunch. Add eight cuts of meat to the menu, and it’s a steak house. That’s what they’ve done with Il Mulino Prime, the SoHo edition of the venerable Greenwich Village Italian restaurant that now has 10 branches in New York, Nashville, Florida, the Poconos and Atlantic City, N.J. The steak choices at the renamed location include a Wagyu sando ($55), and a porterhouse for two ($140). There’s a new three-course $58 prix fixe with choices like a 10-ounce New York strip and a pork chop Milanese style.
AperiBar in the Park
A new service from Charlie Palmer’s AperiBar, in the Luma Hotel Times Square on West 41st Street, will now deliver a picnic spread for two to Bryant Park. Expect salad, antipasti like meatballs, arancini and artichokes, and a pizza. It’s $41, plus tax and delivery fee, utensils included. Beverages, like soft drinks, are extra. Allow about 30 minutes from the time the order is placed; the delivery person, arriving at the the park fountain, will have an AperiBar flag.
Branches
Roberta’s
The Bushwick, Brooklyn, pizzeria has opened the second location of its R Slice Shop in a pedestrian plaza in the Penn District, near Penn Station. It’s on the ground floor. Upstairs later this month will be a location of Roberta’s, serving pastas, seafood, steaks and pizza in a space that includes a rooftop deck. In another Roberta’s development, the group’s Montauk outpost is not reopening this season.
ABC Cocina at Topping Rose
For Friday and Saturday dinners through September, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant at Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton, N.Y., is looking to Latin America and importing dishes from his ABC Cocina in Manhattan. The new menu includes raw seafood preparations, tacos and a quesadilla, crispy black sea bass, arroz con pollo and tropical paletas for dining indoors and out.
Il Pellicano Southampton at Bijoux
The hotspot that had been Blu Mar is now under the management of KyKy Conille for a Hamptons version of Il Pellicano, his restaurant, and Bijoux, his lounge, in Little Italy. Rocco DiSpirito will be the chef. Mr. Conille says that the restaurant and Mr. DiSpirito, who is a partner, will remain in place, like the local corn, well beyond the summer season. The menu leads with seafood, some of which suggests Little Italy. Dimitri Hyacinthe has redone the rooms with more elegance.
Looking Ahead
Time and Tide
After the death of the chef James Kent from a heart attack on June 15, his Saga Hospitality Group is going ahead with one of the chef’s pet projects. The group’s new restaurant, a 7,000 square foot sprawl in a renovated office tower due in the fall, will be run by its executive chef, Danny Garcia, a Top Chef winner, as planned. As to who will step into a leadership role at Saga Hospitality, that’s undecided for now. Mr. Kent named the seafood restaurant for a song by his step-grandfather, the jazz icon Charles Mingus.
Chocolate
La Maison du Chocolat
The French are not connoisseurs of frozen Milky Way bars. So new summer chocolates from La Maison du Chocolat that are meant for eating straight from the freezer are more déjà vu than voilà! But the little cubes enrobed in milk or dark chocolate with mousselike fillings that take 30 minutes on ice to firm up make for a luxurious nibble. Like the Milky Way they are also fine at room temperature.
Lait Extraordinaire
Mindy Segal, a Chicago pastry chef, and Cacao Barry, a French chocolate producer, have collaborated on a new dark milk couverture. It’s a rich 44.8 percent cocoa and comes in 12-ounce bags of pellets, $18, or if you need 11 pounds for a marathon project, $249.
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