Opening
Passerine
At some of the newest Indian restaurants, regional fare is the focus. The same is true at Passerine. The chef Chetan Shetty is from Pune, near Mumbai, and he relies on spice blends his mother concocts and sends over. Chile-fueled kolhapuri ignites lamb tartare, ajwain masala adds pungency to baked oysters, and malwani spices dancing with vadouvan season fish. Greenmarket maitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, collards, broccoli rabe and cabbage figure as well. There are surprising touches, too, like Comté and Hollandaise. The restaurant’s lounge, called the Drawing Room, has its own brief menu and leads to the well-upholstered dining room. The space was formerly occupied by Sona, which closed earlier this year. (Opens Friday)
Field Guide
Timothy Meyers, who worked at Eleven Madison Park, Mas (farmhouse) and Blanca, is going solo at this 60-seat Brooklyn restaurant he said is inspired by the outdoors of his childhood in a village in Central New York and also the tranquil scenes painted by Andrew Wyeth. Food is listed under the rubric “plates,” 16 of them priced from $14 to $45. Most adhere to a seasonal approach with fig leaf-wrapped pork terrine, butternut squash rillettes with clams, and beef fillet with sunflower crumble and chanterelles. Summer lingers in a squash blossom risotto and a blackberry-shiso condiment garnishing pork loin prime rib. (Friday)
Smithereens
Seafood shines in the hands of Nicholas Tamburo, who was the chef de cuisine at Claud. His approach reflects his Massachusetts roots, with items like hake and clams, tautog (blackfish, now in season) with kohlrabi, colonial Anadama bread with smoked bluefish, and apple cider doughnuts. His partner in this garden-level venture is the much-lauded beverage director, Nikita Malhotra. Cocktail creations, like the Cape Codder cranberry and a briny martini, fit the food. (Friday)
Tikal Mayan Food
A trip to Guatemala awaits in this new spot, though items like tacos and meat tamales, to say nothing of the ancient Mayan civilization, have few boundaries in the region. The menu even dips its toe into El Salvador with its pupusas. Grilled skirt steak, chicken in sour cream sauce and assorted stews bolstered with chiles define the food served in a simple room adorned with a portrait of one of Tikal’s astonishing temples.
Padang Dining at Ma-Dé
Cedric and Ochi Vongerichten have turned their second restaurant, just steps from their flagship Wayan, into a showcase for a communal Indonesian feast. Centered on fried chicken and slow-cooked butterfish, the spread includes a bountiful array of side dishes, including baby squid, sweetbreads and crispy smelts to name a few. Expect to eat with your hands: $58 per person. (Monday)
Heroes
The restaurant occupying the ground floor of a carriage house in SoHo was named in tribute to figures, not necessarily in food, admired by the owners Ariel Arce, a downtown restaurateur, Aaron Lirette, the chef from Chicago, and Kenneth Crum, the wine director. A mural shows the selected heroes, like Julia Child and Beyoncé, sketches of whom also decorate the menu, though the tributes do not include the dishes for which they’re known. The contemporary menu features mains like dry-aged turbot and stuffed chicken to serve two. The second floor houses a private event room, while Pearl Box, a cocktail lounge with inventive drinks including some with bananas, and classy food bites, is on the third. The restaurant and bar are dramatically lit, glowing purple.
Branches
Mermaid Inn
The neighborhood has been hungry for a plate of oysters, a glass of Muscadet and a piece of fish ever since Mermaid Inn vacated Amsterdam Avenue and 88th Street two years ago; never mind that Crave Fishbar is a fine option. The new Mermaid’s siren call has been on signage since earlier this year. The fourth in the series, it’s a spacious rendition, larger than the previous one, with three distinct rooms done in the familiar white and black palette and open to the outside with garage doors. Most of the menu is familiar.
Casa Tua
The original sprawling, multifaceted food hall, restaurant and club in Miami has landed in New York, in the renovated Surrey Hotel. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and located to the left of the hotel lobby. To the right, where Café Boulud once reigned, is a lovely wood-paneled lounge and bar. Club members can access a private room upstairs. Club memberships range from $2,500 to $11,500, some providing access to locations elsewhere. But in the comfortable, well lit public restaurant, it will only require $34 for burrata with confit tomatoes, $48 for a plate of lobster linguine and $72 for veal Milanese.
Looking Ahead
Spaghetti All’Assassina
Spaghetti that’s seared, lacquered with vibrant sauce and cooked almost to a crisp defines this standout dish from Bari, Italy. Stanley Tucci is a fan. And it’s being brought to New York from Dec. 4 to 8, as part of a prix fixe $60 dinner, by Celso Laforgia, who serves it in his restaurant Urban Assassineria Urbana. Mr. Laforgia is considering this to be a trial run for a possible outpost in New York.
JKS Restaurants
This London powerhouse notable for its portfolio of Asian restaurants is bringing one of them to New York in September at 1245 Broadway. It will be Indian, said Jyotin Sethi, one of three siblings whose initials define the company’s name, but they won’t announce the name of the new restaurant until April. JKS is known for its lavishly clubby Gymkhana in Mayfair with excellent food, and the sleeker, seafood-forward Trishna in Marylebone, and several others. Their other culinary destinations include Thailand, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and Spain, as well as England itself, with two pubs and the minimalist, much-lauded Lyle’s. It also has outposts in the Middle East. “We’re confident, what with the amount of recent activity in the Indian sector in New York,” Mr. Sethi said.
Chefs on the Move
David Cámara
A veteran of the Vin Sur Vingt wine bars is now refreshing the kitchen at Le Rivage, Paul Denamiel’s 40-year-old Theater Row fixture. Mr. Denamiel had been the chef. Mr. Cámara is adding brandade de morue, gnocchi à la Parisienne, frogs legs, côte de porc with roasted apples, and cod à la barigoule to the menu of French bistro staples.
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