Opening
Golden HOF/NY Kimchi
The restaurateur Sam Yoo’s latest is a legacy. An owner of Golden Diner in Chinatown, Mr. Yoo has taken over his family’s duplex restaurant near Rockefeller Center, previously New York Kimchi serving Korean barbecue. The setup now has a Korean pub, called a hof, on the upper floor with drinks and anju (bar food) like fried chicken, chive pancakes, carbonara rice cakes, dumplings and a cheeseburger. The lower level is NY Kimchi, with a more elaborate steakhouse menu (steaks and fish served with banchan) as well as raw bar specialties, including oysters Rockefeller with kimchi butter, along with Korean dishes, including japchae noodles, salads and jeon pancakes.
Ficuzza
Francesco Realmuto wanted his new restaurant to evoke the town in western Sicily, near Palermo, of his childhood. He is guiding his executive chef, Romulo Barrientos, in preparing fritto misto, fusilli alla Trapanese with Sicilian tomato pesto, classic spaghetti con le sarde with wild fennel and raisins, and skirt steak with Sicilian tomato sauces. There are a few thin-crust pizzas, not what are usually considered Sicilian, but topped with mortadella and pistachios. The foothills of Mount Etna are the source for some wines. The airy but intimate dining room is reached beyond a bar done in green marble, the latest material of choice. (Wednesday)
Hungry Thirsty
Less than two months after Sirichai Sreparplarn closed Ugly Baby in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, his take-no-prisoners Thai spot with a notable beer list, former employees, and now the owners here — Napat Ruangphung, known as Angie, and Thanatharn Kulaptip, known as Sun — have opened their own take. Prasert Kanghae, known as Tee, who was also at Ugly Baby, is another partner and the chef. Ms. Ruangphung said that only two dishes on the menu pay homage to Ugly Baby: khoong muk kai kem with shrimp, squid and salted egg yolk, and the Panang curry with beef shank. The rest travels across Thailand with street food and home cooking in mind, including stir-fries, curries, and the house special kha moo kaki of stewed pork leg, feet and intestines. The beers are back and reservations are accepted.
Shmoné Wine
Eyal Shani has tucked in his first wine bar, specializing in small producers, adjacent to his Michelin-starred Shmoné. Orianne Shapira, who also works at Shmoné, is the executive chef at the wine bar, serving hot Jerusalem bagels, chicory salad, deviled eggs, Pyrex lasagna with stracciatella and small plates.
Prof. Chan’s
In 1973, Hunan cuisine was new and hot; Uncle Tai’s Hunan Yuan even received four stars from The New York Times. The city’s latest, is an import from Hong Kong serving the requisite stir-fried offal, twice-cooked beef and pork and hot and sour shredded potatoes all generously strewed with chiles and sweet bell peppers. The chef, Huang Wei, is from Hunan and the co-owner, Chi Zhang has had other restaurants in New York. It occupies a narrow 80-seat space hung with lanterns; the kitchen is equipped with robotic spinning woks.
Coffee & Caviar
Don’t even think about Champagne if you start the day with caviar or stop for lunch (until 2 p.m.) at this new TriBeCa spot. Coffee drinks and various teas are the options, with a choice of Chinese Kaluga or osetra alongside. I’d opt for a tea with some tannins to balance caviar’s saline richness, maybe followed by coffee and pastries like madeleines. The 50 gram (nearly 2 ounce) caviar servings are a reasonable $74.79 for Kaluga and $79.79 for osetra. Dasha Smyslov, a caviar dealer, has taken over Farra, the bar next to Atera, during the day for this venture, so she’s serving what she knows best.
Mockingbird
Buzz-free cocktails are on order at this new Park Slope bar. The owners, Evan Clark, a biologist, and Coulton Vento, a mixologist, are pouring some of their own nonalcoholic options made with tea, fruits, spices and even smoke, along with commercially available stand-ins for tequila, gin, rum and bourbon. Nonalcoholic beers, ciders and wines are also served, and they offer a modest selection of bar nibbles; for weekend brunch, expect assorted waffles.
Closed
Fernandino’s Focacceria
Just about two years ago, when a reader asked Nikita Richardson where to find regional Italian food, her Where to Eat recommendation was this old-school family-run Sicilian fixture in the area now known as the Columbia Street Waterfront District in Brooklyn, renowned for its softball-size arancini. Now, to the dismay of the neighborhood and many others, it closed over the weekend with an Instagram announcement citing “unforeseen circumstances” and that “fading into the Red Hook sunset quietly, without fanfare, was felt to be a proper and discreet finish.” The restaurant started in 1904 by serving lunches to the longshoremen who worked the Brooklyn docks. In an interview with Gothamist, Frank Buffa, who has been running the restaurant at 151 Union Street for 50 years, left open the possibility that he would welcome the right operator to take over.
Looking Ahead
Nancy Silverton at Roscioli
Nancy Silverton, the California chef best known for the Osteria Mozza restaurants and the widely sold breads from La Brea Bakery, will be collaborating on several dinners at Roscioli in Greenwich Village. The dinners, $350 each plus tax and tip, are on March 9 at 5:30 and 8 p.m., and March 10 at 6 and 8:30 p.m.
On the Menu
Smoked Whitefish
To New Yorkers and tourists, smoked whitefish suggests brunch at Barney Greengrass. But instead of Amsterdam Avenue think Grand Rapids, Mich., the source of cold-smoked whitefish that’s being sold, canned in organic sunflower oil, for a nationwide audience for the first time. No matter where you’re eating smoked whitefish chances are the fish was previously swimming in the Great Lakes; there a group of fishermen and processors are producing a tinned variety, smoky and savory. It makes for a lip-smacking addition to a tapas array, positioned on a deviled egg or mustard-smeared toast or mixed with diced potatoes and dusted with smoked paprika.
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