Opening
Mommy Pai’s
Ann Redding and Matt Danzer of Thai Diner have gone quick-serve uber-casual with this shop, designed more for takeout than stay in. Grilled or fried chicken fingers scented with lemongrass, coconut and other flavors are the main draw, served from a counter along with coconut scallion pancakes and coconut rice and beans. Colorful tropical fruit drinks accompany the food. It’s a tribute to Ms. Redding’s mother, Ampai, and was designed by Ms. Redding’s sister, May Redding. (Opens Friday)
203 Mott Street (Spring Street), mommypai.com.
Kebabishq
Kebabs, as they might be hawked on the streets of Delhi and Lucknow, have found their way to the crammed eating corridors of the East Village. Vamshi Adi and Neel Mittal, the owners of ISHQ, an Indian restaurant nearby, have dressed their windowed storefront with brick, subway tiles and their signature symbolic rose. Chicken, lamb, shrimp and vegetable kebabs marinated overnight and broiled can come with Masala and peri peri-scented fries, chutneys and a skewered potato. Lassis and the like, and kulfi on a stick, are also served. (Wednesday)
128 Second Avenue (St. Marks Place), 646-609-4747, kebabishq.com.
Taverna by the Gyro Project
The sprawling restaurant space on Tenth Avenue that had been Clyde Frazier’s Wine & Dine became the Mexican spot Nizuc, which turned out to be too big an enchilada. So a corner of it has been bitten off to become Greek, part of a group of informal counter-service spots in New York and New Jersey. It also offers seating indoors and out. Lamb chops, moussaka, Greek-style burgers, dips and pita wraps are on the menu. There’s a full bar and the wines skew Greek.
505 West 37th Street, 212-204-7647, thegyroproject.com.
Mykonian Garden
The Sutton Place location that had been Pino Luongo’s flagship Morso (Mr. Luongo, 72, has retired from all his restaurants) is now this sibling to Mykonian House on the Upper East Side, owned by Gregory Politis and Alina Borys. The chef, Katerina Efthymiadou, who is also the consulting chef at Mykonian House, is preparing seafood like shrimp, sardines and sole scented with fresh herbs and Greek olive oil. There’s expansive terrace seating and an interior that’s simply done.
420 East 59th Street, 212-220-4135, mykoniangarden.com.
Piccolo Cucina Osteria
Gracefully, like a step in the waltz in “The Leopard,” set in Sicily, this SoHo restaurant has moved next door to its original location. The owner, Philip Guardione, a native of Catania in Sicily, now has a larger dining room where he is focusing more closely on Sicilian dishes like swordfish rolled with mozzarella, maccheroni alla Norma, busiate with pesto and squid, and almond granita, and wines from the regions of Mt. Etna, Ragusa and Messina. The original location of the restaurant will become Piccola Cucina Enoteca, joining the group that was founded in 2008 and which hopes to expand to eight locations by the end of the year.
198 Spring Street (Sullivan Street), 646-478-7488, piccolacucinagroup.com.
Closing
Olmsted
Greg Baxtrom’s restaurant, considered to be an anchor for the neighborhood when it opened nearly 10 years ago, is closing on Aug. 17, on the heels of the chef’s recent shuttering of the more casual Patti Ann’s nearby. On Instagram he cited personal and financial reasons for the closing.
659 Vanderbilt Avenue (Prospect Place), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, no phone, olmstednyc.com.
Lodi
What began four years ago as an Italian-style bakery and cafe expanded to become a full restaurant with white napery, with just a small counter for baked goods, will close in the fall. Ignacio Mattos’s excellent spot, among the pace-setters for Tishman Speyer’s overhaul of Rockefeller Center dining, is falling victim to the cost and complications of running a restaurant in New York. “People loved it, it got glowing reviews and it’s unfortunate that in this atmosphere it wasn’t enough; it’s sad,” Mr. Mattos said. The closing will be around the end of October.
1 Rockefeller Plaza (49th Street), 212-597-2735, lodinyc.com.
Looking Ahead
Hampton Chutney
Ravi MacGurn, 23, a son of Gary and Isabel MacGurn, who started Hampton Chutney in Amagansett, N.Y., in 1995, will now take on an official managerial role in the new Manhattan branch, opening in October. The MacGurns, had also opened locations in SoHo and on the Upper West Side and closed those locations with the onset of the pandemic. They moved Hampton Chutney, still known for generous dosas, from the original Amagansett location to East Hampton. The reopening in Manhattan was the result of requests from former customers and from José Peralta, who had been the chef in SoHo for 15 years and who is coming back.
2 Astor Place (Broadway), hamptonchutney.com.
Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival
Running from Oct. 15 through 19, the New York City Wine & Food Festival will be headquartered in the South Street seaport complex with the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who has the Tin Building food hall there, as a consultant. New in the lineup of meals, cocktail parties and demos is an Asian night market on Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m., organized by Mr. Vongerichten with Padma Lakshmi. There will also be food, wine and cooking demonstrations, a tasting set up by Bobby Flay and Brooke Williamson, as well as an optional steak dinner on Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.
On the Menu
De Nada
Few traditional wineries also sell nonalcoholic wines. There are two on Long Island: Wölffer Estate, which has been in the nonalcoholic game for several years, and Paumanok Vineyards, which earlier this year introduced three nonalcoholics labeled De Nada (sold in restaurants, shops and at the winery). The sauvignon blanc is a crisp marriage of fruit and minerality that might suggest some A.B.V. still lurking; the delicate dry rosé is in the lean Provençal style; the modest cabernet sauvignon with a suggestion of tannin is a bit thin but speaks louder as it sits in the glass. They’re made in Chile by a former Long Island winemaker.
$18, paumanok.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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