Opening
Kabawa
For Paul Carmichael, a native of Barbados, the Caribbean is the ultimate fusion region. “They have it all: Spanish, French, Dutch, English, Indigenous and some Asian,” he said, one afternoon at Bar Kabawa, the adjunct to his main restaurant in an alley off the Bowery. The bar with the green door and a list of daiquiris opened a few weeks ago. The blue door nearby leads to the open kitchen of the prix-fixe restaurant ($145, three courses), previously Momofuku Ko. (Kabawa is part of the Momofuku restaurant group.) His take on the Caribbean is “local, not tourist,” he said. A soundtrack of vocal music enlivens the bar but at Kabawa, instrumental sound provides background.
Kobano
This newcomer just around the corner from Kabawa (see above) has a take on a fusion cuisine that covers different territory: Brazil meets Japan. Izakaya in its approach, it offers a lengthy list of dishes like salmon carpaccio with mango salsa and yuzu; crispy rice with spicy tuna and avocado; various rolls including a vegetable futomaki; assorted takes on fried rice; and substantial platters of feijoada and churrasco. Two chefs, Nobuhiro Hamazaki and Ricardo Cardona, are in charge. Vibrant murals and greenery define a big space that also resonates with tribal house. (Wednesday)
Laliko
Folk art touches and nods to tradition define this intimate Georgian restaurant. The popular khachapuri pastry boat filled with cheese is thin and crisp, the work of Jimi Kurtanidze. Another chef, Ruslan Giorgberidze, only makes khinkali dumplings, including the mother khinkali filled with smaller ones like nesting dolls. Chicken in blackberry sauce, beef stew, skewered meats, and cauliflower in walnut sauce are by the executive chef, Manuchar Tsikolia. The restaurant serves Georgian wines, including amber ones, aged in qvevri, and some cocktails incorporate chacha, a grape-based spirit. The owner, Gurami Oniani, has a string of places in Georgia and Moscow.
Be Pasta
The parameters at this pasta-specific spot in Brooklyn are strictly defined (though how closely they will be followed remains to be seen). A menu of seven appetizers, seven main dishes (mostly using dried pastas, from sources across Italy) and four desserts, all involving pasta and tagged with cute names and background details, are served at just 12 seats indoors and another 12 outside. Natural wines are poured. It’s the work of a team led by the chef Andrea Pancani, who had been with the Sant Ambroeus group. (Opens Friday)
Deli on Wheels
Manischewitz, the kosher grocery company, will be distributing free samples of its products from new orange food trucks, starting Thursday through April 7. The trucks will be stationed outside various ShopRite stores in New York and New Jersey from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. daily, except Saturdays. The routine will resume after Passover, April 21, when it will start selling kosher deli specialties.
Branches
Omakase Osukaa Restaurant
Following its opening last year in Long Island City, this sushi restaurant, co-owned by Dino Redzic, has added a Midtown Manhattan location. With 22 seats, the counter is larger than most, and at $79 for 15 courses at dinner (lunch is $49 for 10 servings) it’s also cheaper than most.
Looking Ahead
The Sugar Shack by M. Wells
In Brooklyn, Sarah Obraitis and Hugue Dufour will revive the spirit of M. Wells, the Long Island City, Queens, restaurant they closed when the ball dropped on 2025. That spirit is Canadian, expressed through spring’s maple sugaring that they have routinely celebrated, but now at a new location, New York Distilling Company in Brooklyn. Brunches at communal tables will feature heaps of ribs, baked beans, pâtés, sausages, smoked fish, cheeses and drinks, most prepared with the sweet edge of maple syrup and served with a helping of music.
Ferdinando’s Focacceria
The much-loved 121-year old Italian fixture in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, that closed about a month ago, is not going to disappear completely. It is being rescued but not revived by Sal Lamboglia, the busy restaurateur from the neighborhood, who said, in a statement: “I look forward to honoring the legacy of Fernandino’s Focacceria and expanding the restaurant group we are building here in Carroll Gardens.” Mr. Lamboglia was handpicked by Frank Buffa, the owner of the focacceria, to take over and has signed a lease. Though he is changing the name and the concept he said he will be retaining about 50 percent of the art on the walls, the chairs and light fixtures, and he also plans to serve the giant rice balls and the pane e panelle (a Sicilian chickpea fritter sandwich). He said the panelle “is part of the soul of this place.” Mr. Buffa has even offered to help him make it. An opening date has not been announced.
Closed
Milk Bar
The original dessert destination spun off from Momofuku Ssam Bar back in 2008, and where Christina Tosi’s radical cereal milk soft-serve, compost cookies and the eventually renamed “crack” pie made their debuts, has closed. Ms. Tosi and her partners did not renew the lease. Not to worry. They have several other Milk Bar locations in New York and elsewhere, and the brand is also sold in stores like Whole Foods.
Chefs on the Move
Masamoto Soma
Yoshihiko Kousaka, who has been running his sushi-ya for years, is stepping back and has named Mr. Soma as his replacement. The classic 12-seat counter in the West Village is now run by Mr. Soma.
On the Menu
Paella Valenciana
Order paella and the shallow two-handled steel pan is likely to come laden with golden seasoned rice, chicken, lobster, mussels, clams and chorizo, for something I call a kitchen sink paella. Not my favorite. I prefer my paella more finely conceived, like the original, which supposedly contained rabbit, snails and beans, likely foraged, and sometimes chicken, all seasoned with tomato sofrito probably sizzled over a campfire in the fields. Finding that throwback can be a Quixotic mission. This week, from Thursday through Sunday, the Socarrat Paella Bars in Chelsea, Midtown East and NoLIta will be serving the traditional Valenciana, $38 per person, minimum of two.
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The post At Kabawa, Paul Carmichael Takes a Local Approach to Caribbean Cuisine appeared first on New York Times.
