 Elmo
Three years after their snazzy remake
of Leshko's, its
owners have exported their Knoll chairs and retro-mod
tendencies to Chelsea, where this week they open elmo.
Chef Kevin Reilly, a veteran of Zoë,
presents a playful melting-pot menu he calls "ethnic New
York," incorporating flavors from Chinatown, Little Italy,
and the Lower East Side. For starters, there's alphabet
soup with dilled chicken dumplings and smoked paprika
oil, and entrées like vegetable lo mein with roasted grapefruit
and cashews. An eye-catching curved mosaic wall and seashell
lighting fixtures set the stylish stage, and the spotlight
is on a new work by Ross Bleckner, the painter's first
commission in a decade.
156 Seventh
Avenue, near 19th Street
212-337-8000
· Cuisine: Eclectic
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Rochjin
Asian Noodle
Andy Yang leads a double life. As a
partner at Forbidden City, he runs a dark den of iniquity
where Alphabet City slickers sip sake and smoke themselves
silly. But at his new restaurant, Rochjin Asian Noodle,
he's created an alcohol-and-smoke-free zone open till
2 a.m., a clean-living canteen where NYU students and
frazzled East Villagers can restore themselves with fresh
ginger and lemongrass juices, and an assortment of noodle
soups featuring Thai fish balls (rochjin) made by Yang's
godmother, his chef and partner, who pulverizes yellowtail
snapper with hot and cold water and abstains from MSG,
filler, and flour. Thanks to a stint at Blue
Ribbon Sushi, Yang has an in at Fulton Fish Market;
everything else, from tea leaves to glass-topped tables,
is imported from Thailand. He even selected the music,
an assortment of classic jazz, with his collegiate clientele's
well-being in mind: "They all listen to hip-hop. Better
music"-like fish-"might improve their brain."
92 Third Avenue
212-614-7294
· Cuisine: Thai
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 Soy
"In a three-block radius, there's every kind
of fast food," says Etsuko Kizawa, an erstwhile designer determined
to offer her Lower East Side neighborhood a healthier alternative
to KFC and Burger King. So last month, she converted her handbag
boutique into Soy, a minuscule, honeydew-green bastion
of soybeans in every form, from edamame and tofu to roasted-soybean
snacks, green-tea soy smoothies, even soy coffee. And for expert
assistance in preparing "classic Japanese mama's dishes" like
beef-and-potato stew and curry rice, Kizawa imported two temps
from Japan: her parents.
102 Suffolk Street
212-253-1158
· Cuisine: Japanese
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Nong
Seemingly overnight, the Asian-influenced
Aleutia morphed into the all-Asian (mostly Thai) Nong, and
a chef who used to work at Ruby
Foo's came in to consult on the spicy new menu. Choose
from wok plates (chicken fried rice), large plates (cracked
lobster with avocado), and bento-box lunches full of rolls,
dumplings, and stir-fries.
220 Park Avenue
So., at 18th St.
212-529-3111
· Cuisine: Pan-Asian
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Si Si
Chicama
chef Douglas Rodriguez gains a Fifth Avenue foothold in the
basement of Trump Tower, where he hopes to lure tourists and
shoppers with tapas like foie gras flan, coconut-chicken salad,
and a roster of rice dishes incorporating everything from
crab and scallops to veal and fava beans.
725 Fifth Ave.,
at 57th St.
212-751-3573
· Cuisine: Tapas
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Openings Archive
Week
of March 4
Bonita, Wondee Siam II, Barocco Hots
Week
of February 25
NYC, Beekman Kitchen, Bemelman's Bar
Week
of February 18
Negril Village, Kai, Cipriani Dolci, ONY
and
more ...
Photos: From top to bottom- Kenneth Chen (2),
Patrik Rytikangas
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