Headliner
Café Carmellini
The chef Andrew Carmellini’s trajectory has been a steady climb, not a rocketing blastoff. Now, having reached cruising altitude after 30 years at the stove in New York, a city where his family has roots, he’s finally putting his name on a restaurant. It’s in a first-class building, formerly a bank and now a hotel, designed by McKim, Mead & White and offering a spacious dining room at double height with an open kitchen on one side, a plethora of detailed finishes in wood, and mirrors and bronze throughout. It’s a gracious setting — “tablecloths are back,” he said. Wine-friendly, French-Italian dishes include Wagyu carpaccio; veal tongue Castelluccio (with lentils); crab and Meyer lemon salad; lobster cannelloni with caviar; sole Normande; black bass with truffle zabaglione; squab en croûte; and scallops Cardoz that pay homage to Floyd Cardoz, known for his interpretations of Indian food. Mr. Carmellini plans to spend most of his time at this new flagship working with his chef de cuisine, Kyle Goldstein. The pastry chef, Jeffrey Wurtz, has a diverse repertoire, including sticky toffee pudding, olive oil cake with Sorrento lemon, and passion fruit chiboust with coconut sorbet. The wine cellar, overseen by Josh Nadel from NoHo Hospitality Group, Mr. Carmellini’s company that’s also running the food and drink for the hotel, has some 1,800 labels. There will be three sommeliers on duty. (Opens Thursday)
Opening
Metropolis by Marcus Samuelsson
This spacious, somewhat industrial yet warmly toned lobby restaurant, designed by David Rockwell in the new Perelman Performing Arts Center, is ready for prime time. It welcomes with a 40-seat lounge and a 135-seat restaurant that also has a seasonal terrace. There’s a wine bar and a private dining room, all run by Marcus Samuelsson with the executive chef Ed Tinoco, the chef de cuisine Marcelo Malta Andrade and the pastry chef Onika Ayana Brown. Their menu has its eye on New York with local oysters; a sumptuous market platter of grilled, pickled and fermented vegetables with dips; and aged Long Island duck with mole, foie gras and peaches. There’s even a drink called Catskills Old Fashioned. (Wednesday)
Blue Ribbon Sushi & Steak
Bruce and Eric Bromberg’s shape-shifting collection of restaurants now includes this one, just a stroll from the paint at Madison Square Garden. It’s their first to offer a chop house grill angle, along with tastes of nearly everything you’d find under the Blue Ribbon name, including the fried chicken. Cuts of American beef, domestic Wagyu and Japanese Wagyu are featured, along with a Kurobuta pork chop, swordfish steak, fried rice, raw bar items and dozens of sushi and sashimi choices by the piece, the roll or the platter. The sushi is listed according to ocean source, Atlantic or Pacific. The 150-seat restaurant includes a sushi counter, a bar and outdoor seating.
Allure
The Upper West Side has acquired another fine dining restaurant, this one from City Nights Hospitality, which runs Ascent Lounge, in the Shops at Columbus Circle. Set within a glass atrium in the historic 120-year old Beaux-Arts-style Hotel Belleclaire designed by Emery Roth, an architect responsible for many of the neighborhood’s handsome apartment houses, it offers a contemporary menu from the chef Joshua Vasquez. You’ll find a fancy Wagyu hot dog, burrata, grilled prawns, baby Gem salad, crab pappardelle, whole grilled rainbow trout and a half roast chicken. (Thursday)
Casa Bond
In an opulent setting with marble and crystal chandeliers, regional Mexican fare — from Tulum and the Yucatán to Baja California and Sinaloa in between — is given star treatment. Guacamole with lobster or caviar (a felicitous combination), lobster ceviche, a surf and turf taco with shrimp and steak, cochinita pibil, and cylindrical churros filled with caramel mousse are ambitious choices from the chef and partner, Rodrigo Abrajan, who got his start with a street cart in East Harlem 30 years ago. His partners are Mike Khuu and Luis Villanueva. (Wednesday)
Swoony’s
Sal Lamboglia is building on the success of his Cafe Spaghetti with another unpretentious spot, this time with a bit more polish in a rich blue and cream setting with vintage accents. But the bistro feel continues. And that goes for the menu, which doesn’t compete with the pasta lineup at Cafe Spaghetti nearby but offers clams casino, lamb meatballs with cucumber and yogurt, a double cheeseburger and seared halibut with brown butter, leeks and cauliflower. Mr. Lamboglia notes that his father once worked at Cucina Napoletana, previously in this location. (Wednesday)
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The post After Decades in the Restaurant Business, Andrew Carmellini Opens Café Carmellini appeared first on New York Times.
