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Café Sabarsky
As any bleary-eyed tourist knows, art appreciation requires intense
concentration, a riveting audio guide, and an espresso or two. Now, with the
opening of Café Sabarsky at Ronald Lauder's Neue Galerie New York, fatigued
Museum Milers can caffeinate up after viewing the Klimts and Kokoschkas
upstairs. Lauder recruited Wallsé's Kurt Gutenbrunner (pictured) to run the
Viennese-style kaffeehaus, and the Austrian chef is clearly in his
element-an elegant room furnished with reproductions of Josef Hoffmann
sconces, Adolf Loos bentwood chairs, and Otto Wagner fabrics. Besides the
coffee and tortes (Sacher and linzer), there's Bavarian ham with horseradish
for breakfast, goulash and strudel for lunch, and chamber music on Sunday
afternoons.
1048 Fifth Avenue, at 86th Street
212-288-0665
· Cuisine: Café/ Espresso Bar
Market 17
Like City Bakery, its predecessor in this narrow Union Square storefront,
Market 17 aims to make the most of its proximity to the Greenmarket.
Chef-partner Matthew Scully (pictured) plans to incorporate local produce in
his thin-crusted pizzas, flatbread wraps, pressed focaccia sandwiches, and
juice-and-smoothie bar. But a rustic redesign of the once minimalist space,
featuring upended logs and 140-year-old barnwood, helps the new takeout kid
on the block establish its own identity.
22 East 17th Street
212-414-4999
· Cuisine: Café/ Sandwiches
Thias
Selecting a glistening Arctic char or black sea bass from an icy fish-market
display is almost as satisfying as reeling it in yourself, as diners at
Milos, Avra, and Trata have discovered. This week, chef Peter Spyropoulos
(pictured) brings the point-and-cook concept to the Upper West Side, where
he's opened Thias (Greek for "Zeus"). Besides offering the charcoal-grilled
seafood, priced per pound, and the full complement of hot and cold mezedes
and Greek salads, he has nightly specials like rabbit stifado and lamb
fricassee, a Sunday Greek-style brunch, and a kids' menu. The downstairs ouzeria, though, is adults only.
103 West 77th Street
212-721-6603
· Cuisine: Greek/ Seafood
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Better Burger
Who would have thought that Louis Lanza, chef-owner of Josie's, the
quasi-vegetarian restaurant with branches on the Upper West Side and in
Murray Hill, has long harbored a secret desire to become the next Ray
Kroc-even a kinder, gentler, health-conscious Kroc? After two and a half
years of research, taste-testing, and looking for the perfect seaweed base
for his shakes, he's opened Better Burger, a snappy fast-food stand adjacent
to the East Side Josie's. The juicy, quarter-pound certified free-range
beef, chicken, or turkey burgers are cooked 24 at a time in a fat-draining
contraption that resembles a giant version of George Foreman's grill, while
tuna, soy, and veggie versions are pan-seared. Likewise, crispy, crinkly
French fries are almost virtuous, spritzed with olive oil and baked, not
fried, and the thick shakes are concocted from soy or powdered organic milk.
Even the custom-blended condiments are organic. And unlike Kroc, Lanza is
up-front about his "own Thousand Island-style special sauce": It's made from
Muir Glen tomatoes and Vegannaise.
565 Third Avenue, at 37th Street
212-949-7528
· Cuisine: Burgers
 re-opening
Nipotino
Downtown's two-year-old trattoria La Nonna ("grandmother" in Italian) has
changed its name to Nipotino ("grandson"), but that doesn't mean Granny was
the victim of a kitchen coup. Owner Massimo Felici has given his restaurant
a fresh coat of paint, added artwork by local second-graders (pictured, with
pizza), updated the menu, and lowered prices but kept the maternal approach
to Tuscan country cooking, not to mention the pizza della Nonna.
133-135
West 13th Street
212-741-3663
· Cuisine: Italian
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Looking
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December
Marseilles,
630 Ninth Ave. at 44th St.,
212-333-2323
Set-up: Two-story,
4000 square-foot space designed in 1940's French-Moroccan
style with zinc bar and ebonized mahogany accents.
Cuisine: French/Mediterranean
Chef: Alex Urena
(Blue Hill)
Owner: Simon Oren
(Sushi Samba,
L' Express, Maritime)
Blue
Fin,
Set-up: Situated in the highly-anticipated
W Times Square Hotel, this 400-seater will have
a floating staircase connecting its two levels and a
view of the Great White Way.
Cuisine: Seafood
Chef: Paul Sale (Icon at W Court Hotel)
Owner: Stephen "BR Guest" Hanson (Isabella's,
Atlantic Grill)
January, 2002
Suba,
109 Ludlow St., 212-982-5714
Set-up: Subterreanean, multi-level grotto with
moat, underwater lamps, and floor-to-ceiling glass-paneled
doors. Designed by Andre Kikoski.
Cuisine:Pan-Latin
Chef: Stephane Bucholzer (L'Actuel)
Owners: Yann De Rochefort and Phillip Morgan
Fiamma,
206 Spring St., 212-653-0100
Set-up:
Tri-level space in SoHo with exterior glass elevator
and 130 seats
Cuisine: Italian
Chef: Michael White
(formerly at the four-star Spiaggia in Chicago and chef
di cucina at Ristorante San Domenico in Imola, Italy)
Owner: Stephen "BR
Guest" Hanson (Blue Water Grill, Park Avalon, Ruby
Foo's)
April, 2002
Blue
Smoke, 116 East 27th
St.
Set-up: Jazz joint with a built-in barbecue pit
at former 27 Standard space.
Cuisine: Barbecue
Chef: Pitmaster Kenny Callaghan (Sous Chef, Union
Square Cafe)
Owners: Danny Meyer (Gramercy
Tavern, Union
Square Cafe, Eleven
Madison Park)
--
TISA COEN
Hear about a restaurant opening? Post an announcement
- even a rumor - in the
Food Forum.
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Openings Archive
Week of
November 12
Deborah — Life Love Food, Pigalle, Jean-Luc, @SQC
Week of
November 5
Across the Street, Mezz@Town
Week of
October 29
Commissary, Papillon
Week of
October 22
The Harrison, The Minnow
and
more ...
Photos: Patrik Rytikangas.
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