Restaurants
EDITED BY ROB PATRONITE AND ROBIN RAISFELD
Week of February 4, 2002

Q Café
You might remember chef Myriam Córdova from Orinoco, the now-defunct Venezuelan restaurant she opened three years ago. At the new Q Café, she's broadened her culinary horizons to encompass ingredients from around the world while indulging her particular predilection for nut crusts (almond-crusted goat cheese, macadamia-crusted mahimahi) and mangoes (with tuna, with lobster, and in the "mango tango" salad). Her new menu reads more trans-tropical than Pan-Latino, except for the forthcoming Sunday brunch, which resurrects Orinoco classics like cachapas, sweet corn pancakes with cheese, and pabellón, shredded beef with rice and beans.
244 East 79th Street
212-717-6500
· Cuisine: Eclectic

Cast Iron Cafe
Half the battle of running a good quick-service canteen is getting the bread right. John and Nick Accardi, the brothers behind Cast Iron Cafe, have done their homework. At this bright two-week-old commissary on Chelsea's Sixth Avenue shopping strip that is nicely appointed with hand-painted tiles, copper soup kettles, and a Vespa-sleek Elektra espresso machine, aficionados of dough will giddily recognize the telltale crusty, chewy signs of Balthazar baguettes, Murray's bagels, and La Bergamote's pastries. And the Accardis have upped the soup-salad-sandwich ante (all pleasingly fresh and well above average) with their own delicious take on creatively topped "Roman-inspired" pizza, available by the slice and falling somewhere on the New York City pie chart between the Roman style available at Sullivan Street Bakery and the medium-thick, crispy-bottom Sicilian slices at L&B Spumoni Gardens.
641 Sixth Avenue, near 19th Street
212-462-2244
· Cuisine: Cafe

 

Bouley
On February 8, after a much-publicized gig feeding the rescue workers downtown, the controversial David Bouley welcomes the paying public back to what used to be Bouley Bakery. He's dispensed with the boutique breads, the oven, and the café to make room for lots more seats (and reservations).
120 W. Broadway
212-964-2525
· Cuisine: French

 

Michael Jordan's the Steak House NYC Wine Salon
This week, the onetime gift shop becomes a civilized spot for commuters and oenophiles to sample three-ounce tastes of Carneros Creek "Las Brisas" Pinot Noir and Stony Hill Chardonnay. Should hunger strike, the kitchen turns out $20 tasting portions of steak or seafood matched with the appropriate wine, like buffalo skewers with green peppercorn sauce and a taste of Trevor Jones "Dry Grown" Shiraz.
23 Vanderbilt Ave., at 43rd Street.
212-655-2300
· Cuisine: Wine Bar

Openings Archive

Week of January 28
Ritz-Carlton New York at Battery Park, 3 Bow Thais
Week of January 14
Théo, Suba, Impala Cafe
Week of January 7
Blue Fin, Meet




and more ...

Photo: From to to bottom- Kenneth Chen; Andre Sourourjon; Patrik Rytikangas.