Opening
Marlow East
The South comes from the kitchen of Braxton Decker, a Virginian whose new restaurant is owned by the restaurateurs Elena and Dragan Ristovski, of Marlow Bistro on the Upper West Side. They bring Virginia oysters, country ham and pimento cheese croquettes, buttermilk fried chicken (off-menu, but always available) and deviled eggs to a light-filled duplex space; the bar is on street level. The beverage director Kat Foster, who has worked with the chef, devises drinks that sing of the South with elements like honey-butter-washed whiskey. (Opens Sunday)
1022 Lexington Avenue (73rd Street), 646-767-0123, marloweast.com.
Blue Peak Villa and Zhong Guo Xiao Long Bao
Defying its underground location with effective lighting, Blue Peak Villa is a showcase for dishes said to hearken back to the Qing Dynasty, China’s rulers from 1644 until 1912. The family of the executive chef, Jian Wu, cooked for an empress; he is serving aromatic Yunnan chicken with mashed potatoes, flamed golden eggs finished tableside, and caramelized pork ribs with black vinegar. On street level with a separate entrance (175 East Houston Street), there’s Zhong Guo Xiao Long Bao, for soup dumplings, spicy wontons and noodle dishes.
200 Allen Street (East Houston Street), 917-717-1976, bluepeakvilla.com.
Lele’s Roman
LDV Hospitality and the chef here, Francesco Battisti, can be forgiven for including trenette al pesto, a standard from a province well north of Rome, on a menu in an all-day restaurant that otherwise turns its focus on the Imperial city. Featured are pastas like cacio e pepe, carbonara and amatriciana, and also puntarelle salad, artichokes Roman style, pinsa pizzas, and lamb chops scottadito. Sleek décor with geometric pops of color define the former As You Are restaurant space.
Ace Hotel Brooklyn, 252 Schermerhorn Street (Bond Street), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, 718-313-3636, lelesroman.com.
Cómodo
The four-year old restaurant run by the chef, Felipe Donnelly, and his wife, Tamy Rofe of Colonia Verde in Brooklyn, has undergone a refresh and has reopened with a new Latin American bistro menu (sea bream ceviche, spaghetti a la Huancaina) and brighter décor more focused on Latin America.
Freehand Hotel New York, 23 Lexington Avenue (23rd Street), 212-475-1924, comodonyc.com.
Minuto Bauli
Italian Twinkies? Except that the rich filling oozes from the split top and isn’t tunneled as with the Hostess snack cake, it’s a close call. For Bauli, a company in Verona, Italy, that has been in business for more than 100 years and has been baking these since 2017, this is its first storefront and bakery in the United States. They are baked on premises and filled to order with creams in various flavors, plus toppings.
866 Broadway (18th Street), 646-368-9217, minutobauli.com.
Branches
Fish Cheeks Williamsburg
A Brooklyn outpost for a popular Thai seafood destination in NoHo has opened with new dishes, including Mama Tom Yum with noodles and seafood sparked with crisp pork belly and egg yolk in a rich broth. The spicy mango margarita is made with mezcal here. The space is done with Thai architectural elements and an open kitchen right up front.
661 Driggs Avenue (Metropolitan Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 347-799-1008, fishcheeksnyc.com.
Palermo Argentinian Bistro Gramercy
A second location for this steak house, Buenos Aires-style (Palermo is a neighborhood in that city), has opened across town from its Hell’s Kitchen original. Typical parrillada mixed grill platters, various beef cuts, chicken, sausages and sweetbreads have starring roles. The wine list doesn’t stray from Argentina. A casual area in front, a more formal dining room and a patio are the seating options.
53 Irving Place (18th Street), 917-905-2441, palermoargentinianbistro.com.
Eataly Caffè
Eataly, the global Italian marketplace, is on the move. A coffee shop with sandwiches, salads, pastas, pastries, focaccia and gelato has made its debut at Rockefeller Center, with another one in Hudson Yards to open shortly. Then there are plans for more fully outfited Eataly locations at JFK International Airport terminals 4, 5 and 8.
1230 Avenue of the Americas (49th Street), and 20 Hudson Yards (31st Street and 10th Avenue), Eataly.com.
Chefs on the Move
April Bloomfield
The English chef at Sailor in Brooklyn for the past year and a half, is biting off a major new involvement outside New York. Next month she will join the McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality group, which has a varied portfolio in Austin and Houston, Texas, Aspen, Colo., San Francisco and New Orleans, as executive chef. But her toques will continue to include Sailor, where she will still oversee the kitchen as the chef and a partner. Skylar Mosca is the new executive chef, and Brian Nguyen and Filippa Brandolini d’Adda are now sous-chefs.
Jooho Song
A Seoul native and a former chef de cuisine of Saga who counts the chef James Kent as his mentor, Mr. Song is now returning to his Korean roots as the chef de cuisine at Oiji Mi.
Looking Ahead
Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
With only slightly less dazzle than at the recent Met Gala, on Saturday the Metropolitan Museum of Art will hold an all-day festival throughout the museum to celebrate the reopening of the newly refurbished wing that houses the arts of Africa, ancient Americas and Oceania. For the event the museum has joined with Queens Night Market, with vendors from the market selling food at a top price of $15, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., on the sidewalk areas in front of the museum. The choices will include a Mayan turkey stew, Ethiopian doro wat, a Nigerian bean pudding, and roasted Maori lamb.
Metropolitan Museum, 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue, metmuseum.org.
On the Menu
Luger Lager
The very name was irresistible. So in collaboration with Threes Brewing of Gowanus, Brooklyn, Peter Luger Steak House now tags a beer. It’s an amber-toned Bavarian-style lager with toasty and briny notes, suited for a steak or a burger, or the restaurant’s new housemade bratwurst, poached in the beer and served with cabbage in vinegar. The beer is available at all Peter Luger locations, and some retailers will sell it soon.
Peter Luger Steak House, 178 Broadway (Driggs Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-387-7400; 255 Northern Boulevard (Tain Drive), Great Neck, N.Y., 516-487-8800, peterluger.com.
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Florence Fabricant is a food and wine writer. She writes the weekly Front Burner and Off the Menu columns, as well as the Pairings column, which appears alongside the monthly wine reviews. She has also written 12 cookbooks.
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