 Fiamma
Stephen Hanson opened the whale-size
Blue Fin on New
Year's Eve, and he's barely had time to come up for air
before unveiling the long-awaited Fiamma ("flame"
in Italian), his ambitious bid for SoHo stardom. Here,
in an ultrasleek triplex equipped with two bars and a
glass elevator shuttling between them, he's partnered
with sommelier Paolo Novello and chef Michael White, a
veteran of high-profile kitchens in Chicago and Emilia-Romagna.
But just because the chef was born in Wisconsin, don't
expect a sauce-and-cheese-fest: The multiregional menu
traverses the boot for dishes like pan-roasted sea scallops
with crispy artichokes and black trumpets, garganelli
with prosciutto ragù, and sheep's-milk-ricotta beignets.
206 Spring
Street
212-653-0100
· Cuisine: Italian
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Blue
Smoke
Danny Meyer is the last person we'd
expect to see slobbering over a rack of baby-back ribs,
napkin tucked in collar, sauce dribbling down chin. But
the man is a perfectionist, and when he announced he was
opening a barbecue joint called Blue Smoke — this
from the guy whose quartet of high-end restaurants (Gramercy
Tavern, Eleven Madison
Park, Tabla,
and Union Square Café)
practically define elegant urban dining — we knew he'd risk
every necktie he owns to do all the research required.
It's not too much of a stretch: Meyer's from St. Louis,
a hub of American barbecue. When he wasn't picnic-table-hopping
along the U.S. barbecue circuit, Meyer supervised the
transformation of the former 27 Standard (opened by his
cousin, who remains a partner at Blue Smoke and the Jazz
Standard downstairs) into a much more rough-hewn establishment,
opening March 19, with a woody barroom full of high-back
red-vinyl booths, a skylit dining room, recession-friendly
prices, and a serious jukebox. The pièce de résistance,
though, is the pair of Missouri-made pit smokers hooked
up to a million-dollar ventilation system that conducts
the applewood smoke to the roof, where it should waft
away without vexing the local vegans (who, incidentally,
should stop reading right here). The menu goes whole hog,
from pulled pork and hot links to baby-back and spare
ribs. Meyer clearly plumbed his childhood for St. Louis
specialties like toasted ravioli and Fitz's root beer,
a rarity in New York. And at Blue Smoke, you don't even
need a sommelier to tell you that. -- ROBIN RAISFELD
116 East 27th
Street
212-447-7733
· Cuisine: Barbecue
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 Rouge
After dabbling in sushi and habanero sauce,
David Ruggerio has returned to his classic French roots. At
Rouge, which opens this Friday, Ruggerio-who's been more
of a one-man restaurant — hatching machine than a whisk-wielder
lately — will be back at the stove, reprising the type of cooking
he earned a reputation for at La
Caravelle and Le Chantilly. Unlike at those high-flying
kitchens, though, Ruggerio will keep à la carte entrées like
braised breast of veal and roasted skate with red cabbage and
mustard sauce below $20, and more than half the wines will be
under $23. "You're going to see less-expensive ingredients,
but done in a beautiful way," he says. The elegant space, a
landmark townhouse (formerly Maratti) has a looser look and
feel, too, with arty photographs of redheads lining the walls.
135 East 62nd Street
212-207-4601
· Cuisine: French
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 Tournesol
Long Island City hasn't been much of a
dining destination since Pearson's Texas BBQ relocated to
Jackson Heights, and that deficit was keenly felt by Pascal
Escriout, the former maître d' at Artisanal and a neighborhood
resident. Rather than follow the example of countless Brooklyn-bound
restaurateurs before him, he opted to fill the steak-frites
void in his own backyard. At Tournesol (French for
sunflower), he and his sister wait tables, her boyfriend cooks,
and the apparently famished neighborhood fills the 40-seat
premises for gently priced fish soup, mussels, homemade foie
gras terrine, and plats du jour like cassoulet and coq au
vin.
50-12 Vernon Boulevard,
Queens
718-472-4355
· Cuisine: French
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Openings Archive
Week
of March 11
Elmo, Rochjin Asian Noodle, Soy, Nong, Si Si
Week
of March 4
Bonita, Wondee Siam II, Barocco Hots
Week
of February 25
NYC, Beekman Kitchen, Bemelman's Bar
and
more ...
Photos: From top to bottom- Kenneth Chen (first and third photos),
Patrik Rytikangas (second and fourth photos)
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