Opening
Musaek
The Korean name of this restaurant means “colorless.” It defines the cocktails, including clarified milk-washed options, served in the 12,000 square foot warmly decorated basement space. It is the third component (with Howoo and Dubuhaus) of a cluster of restaurants by Urimat Hospitality on two levels on the edge of Koreatown. The menu, by the executive chef Lenny Moon, whose credentials include Jungsik, looks to the sea with spicy shrimp crackers (tasty fried shrimp heads), and fish and chips made with shishamo, similar to smelts, served with white kimchi slaw.
6 East 32nd Street, B1 (lower level), 917-952-9490, musaek.nyc.
Comal
Putting the Mexican larder on a world stage is what the restaurateur Gaz Herbert, who was born in Cuernavaca near Mexico City and has worked in London and New York, has in mind at his intimate replacement for Flynn McGarry’s Gem Wine. The head chef, Scott McKay, shares his vision. They’ve devised mussels with corn custard and potato; striped bass aguachile; lobster with herbs; and sweetbreads with pineapple and tortilla. Desserts include a chocolate and guajillo torta. For now alcohol is only beer and wine, including Mexican, with a full license pending. The room showcases contemporary art from Mexico City.
116 Forsyth Street (Broome Street), 646-988-9678, comal-nyc.com.
Asano
Kate Kaneko is an tactician, planning to establish morning cafes in restaurants that are open only in the evening. Her debut is at Sandro’s on the Upper East Side. A menu of coffees, matcha drinks and teas, and pastries like miso caramel buns, croissants and gochujang scones, are served from 7:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.
322 East 86th Street, asanocafe.com.
Branches
Stretch Pizza
Wylie Dufresne has added another slice of his pizza to the Domino Park complex in Brooklyn. Here the setup will be traditional, selling and serving whole 16- and 20-inch pizzas, slices and soft serve to go or to eat in at tables, indoors and out, and at a counter overlooking the kitchen. Later this summer another outlet is coming to the Hugh, a food hall in Midtown.
Domino Park, 320 Kent Avenue (South Third Street), no phone, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, stretchpizzanyc.com.
Ops
An underpinning of sourdough crusts distinguishes this Bushwick pizzeria that now has an East Village location. Here the chef has added making St. Louis-style thin crust “tavernetta” pies with toppings that go from classic to Hawaiian. Traditional Italian fare rounds out the menu and the wines favor natural techniques.
176 Second Avenue (11th Street), opsbk.com.
On the Menu
Craft
Tom Colicchio, who pioneered the D.I.Y. menu 24 years ago at his Craft restaurant, is going straight à la carte instead of family-style. In the run-up to the restaurant’s 25th anniversary there’s a completely revised menu already in place which the chef says more closely reflects his personal style of cooking today. He also said that post-Covid people seemed reluctant to share. “The previous menu was meant for sharing and that made the prices high,” Mr. Colicchio said. “Now it makes more sense to serve plated food.” Ample choices are fluke crudo, ricotta agnolotti, roasted sweetbreads, hot and cold foie gras among 10 appetizers; as many mains include roasted cod with razor clams, duck breast with romano beans and currants, and roast sirloin with mushroom tarte Tatin.
Looking Ahead
Major Food Group
A Carbone offshoot in Las Vegas always seemed obvious; one opened in 2015 at the Aria Resort and Casino. Now, another one, Carbone Riviera, is opening this fall in the location overlooking fountains previously occupied by Picasso in the Bellagio Resort & Casino. It’s a partnership with MGM Resorts International. Instead of a seafood tower, it will feature a seafood skyscraper. Back in New York, Major Food plans another location, with a proposed date of 2030, in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in partnership with the financier Steve Cohen, the owner of the Mets, as part of the new Metropolitan Park development encircling Citi Field.
Brooklyn Roots Collective
An indoor-outdoor center covering more than 20,000 square feet with an urban farm, several markets, dining venues, a vegan chef’s kitchen, cooking classes and nighttime music and events will start to roll out this week. Oko Farms, with rooftop plantings, is the anchor. The entire project is designed to be sustainable. Jennifer Juliano, the founder of the collective, is an environmentalist who studied at Cornell.
255 Randolph Street (Scott Avenue), Bushwick, Brooklyn, brooklynrootsco.com.
Closing
Philippe Chow
The upscale Chinese restaurant with a very particular style of cooking, notably satays and salt-and-pepper finishes, is leaving its Upper East Side flagship location after 20 years at the end of the week. In September, cleavers out, it will move into a duplex space at 10 East 52nd Street, directly opposite a new Chinese import, iDen & Quanjude, now occupying what had been La Grenouille. The Chelsea branch of Philippe Chow remains open.
33 East 60th Street.
Hector’s Cafe and Diner
This rare vintage leftover of the era when Herefords, not Hermès, were the draw for the meatpacking district, is closing. A sign posted in the window of the spot, which opened in 1949, said the last coffee will be poured on July 18.
44 Little West 12th Street (Washington Street), 212-206-7592.
Shopping
Le Panier Quatorze
A proper déjeuner sur l’herbe from the Upper East Side is being offered for the first time at that stalwart of French bistros, Quatorze. The picnic, or, rather, pique-nique, basket, $95, serving two people generously, includes a baguette sandwich, charcuterie, salads, dessert and wine. The Hamptons Pantry assortment, also $95, fills the summer fridge with salads, cold soup, marinades and a quart-size container of lobster salad. It’s a steal compared with the usual $100 a pound for lobster salad at fancy beachside boutiques. A $30 deposit is required for the basket, and 24 hours advance notice is needed to order for pickup.
1578 First Avenue (82nd Street), 212-535-1414, quatorze.nyc.
Lisbonata
The name, a clever pun, says it all. The signature Portuguese pastry, pasteis de nata, is all you’ll find at this new bakery. After a trip to Portugal, the owner, George Kaya, started selling his flaky custard tartlets in farmers’ markets and now in this storefront, with both classic and in flavors like pistachio and raspberry.
619 St. Johns Place (Franklin Avenue), Crown Heights, Brooklyn, lisbonata.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.
The post In Koreatown, Musaek’s Menu Looks to the Sea appeared first on New York Times.
