New York Magazine

New Tastes, New Tables

- by robin raisfeld and rob patronite

Canal Street Oysters 380 Canal St.

A stupendous limestone bar is the focal point of brothers Anthony and Tom Martignett­i’s latest restaurant project. On the bar go oysters—Bluepoints, Wellfleets, Malpeques, Beausoleil­s, raw on the half-shell—plus whelks, clams, and sea urchin. John Dory Oyster Bar vet Charlene Santiago’s cooked dishes expand on the theme. There’s razor clams on the plancha, fried fish sticks, and squid-ink paella for two. The sprawling space, once home to live-music venue the Canal Room, was built for a crowd. Sept.

Night Music 111 E. 7th St.

Ravi DeRossi’s unceasing struggle to turn the East Village into a swinging vegan Shangri-La by means of opening assorted meatand-dairy-free bars, restaurant­s, and lounges at a rate of about four per hour continues with Night Music, a vegan Indian restaurant located in his former Water + Fire space. This time DeRossi has a secret weapon: his mom. She taught executive chef Spencer Caine how to cook all the traditiona­l dishes Ravi ate growing up during a monthslong vegan-Indian-cooking boot camp at her house in Colorado. Sept.

Ciao, Gloria 550 Vanderbilt Ave.,

Prospect Heights

Almost 15 years after spiking Red Hook’s collective blood-sugar level with Baked, Renato Poliafito has staked out fresh new all-daycafé territory for his second venture, this time influenced by his Italian heritage. Croissants will be filled with almond and pistachio cream, the classic Italian hero will have a Sicilian slant, and once a month, he’ll stay open late to throw a regional-pasta dinner. Sept.

F&F Pizzeria 459 Court St., Carroll Gardens

Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli (the Franks) are Frenchtrai­ned chefs who cook Italian. They are not, however, pizzaioli. But they have a guy. Actually, two guys: Chad Robertson (of San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery) is one, and Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix is the other. (Actually, Bianco is not only a pizzaiolo, but maybe the world’s greatest pizzaiolo, and also a partner with Robertson and his wife, Elizabeth Prueitt, in the Los Angeles culinary mega-complex the Manufactor­y.) Both have signed on to advise and support and generally share with the Franks all their naturally leavened secrets. Which, if you know anything about bread and pizza, you know is like having John Coltrane and Charlie Parker agree to help you play the saxophone. Sept.

Norm’s 345 Adams St., Downtown Brooklyn

Noam (a.k.a. Norm) Grossman and his partners, Eli and Oren Halali of 2 Bros. dollar-slice fame, spin off their Upside Pizza joint in Downtown Brooklyn with a slice that, like Upside’s, is made from naturally leavened dough but is thinner, crisper, and comparativ­ely stripped-down. Sept.

Daily Provisions 375 Amsterdam Ave.

The Upper West Side isn’t lacking for spinoffs of popular downtown restaurant­s. But what rightthink­ing Upper West Sider wouldn’t want a Danny Meyer bakery-café in their backyard? The DP crew is bringing its Sprezzatur­a breads, BECs, broccoli melts, and diet-busting crullers to the old White Gold Butchers space. To mark the occasion, baker Daniel Alvarez is debuting a new cruller flavor: caramel apple. It’s glazed with cider-spiked caramel and topped with crushed peanuts, and sounds like something the neighborho­od’s gourmet trick-or-treaters could get behind. Sept.

The Riddler 51 Bank St.

Jen Pelka made a name for her San Francisco Champagne bar by having fun with something people tend to take extremely seriously, and she brings that same playful spirit to her new West Village outpost— along with 100 different labels by the bottle, a dozen sparkling wines by the glass, signature snacks like tater-tot waffles and free popcorn, and “The Joan,” a glass of house wine filled to the brim. Sept.

Shukette 230 Ninth Ave.

Soho’s bustling Shuka spawns a Chelsea sibling in the former home of Jim Lahey’s Co. pizzeria, with a

From uptown crullers to subterrane­an sushi, what you’ll be eating next.

Middle Eastern focus and a charcoal-grill-equipped open kitchen. Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja will be making her own breads, including laffa, malawach, and Turkish simits. Sept.

Mina’s 22-25 Jackson Ave.,

Long Island City

Where there was M. Wells Dinette, there will soon be Mina’s, a Greek taverna-style space inside MoMA P.S. 1. Mina Stone has cooked for artists before—most recently Urs Fischer—and has even written a book on the subject. Her museum café will channel the home cooking of Greek grandmas (her great-grandma, specifical­ly) with long braises, seasonal salads, and meze samplers. Oct.

Portale 126 W. 18th St.

Cut loose from Gotham Bar and Grill, the French-trained superchef Alfred Portale finally gets to do what he wants to do: cook simple Italian food, heavy on the veggies, with a little Italian Riviera flair. He’s baking bread, whisking polenta, rolling pasta, and milling flour, too. Oct.

Thai Diner 186 Mott St.

Uncle Boons’ Matt Danzer and Ann Redding reinterpre­t the diner as a place to go when you’re in the mood for a Thai omelet rather than a Western one, and where the disco fries come smothered in curry instead of gravy. There’s a roast-beef sandwich in the works, too, which must be a nod to the signature slab of beef at the couple’s late, great oddball eatery, Mr. Donahue’s. The look? We’re guessing Uncle Boons meets Eisenberg’s. Oct.

Kindred 342 E. 6th St.

Compared to the owners’ corridor of a wine bar, Ruffian, this new space is positively palatial, allowing them to supplement small (mostly vegetable) plates and natural (mostly orange) wines with cocktails, pastas, and a “whole fish wrapped in a blanket.” Oct.

Dhamaka 120 Essex St.

Roni Mazumdar and chef Chintan Pandya already blew our minds and blasted our taste buds at Adda Indian Canteen in Long Island City. Apparently, that was only a warm-up: They’ve named their new Indian grill-focused restaurant at Essex Street Market Dhamaka, which means “bang” in Hindi. Oct.

Di Martino’s

Pasta Bar 75 Ninth Ave.

The 100-plus-year-old Neapolitan pasta-maker Di Martino gives its brand-building pasta-bar concept a whirl at Chelsea Market. It’s got pasta-tasting menus, pasta à la carte, pasta al pomodoro to grab and go, and all the Di Martino pasta shapes you could ever imagine to take home and toss into pots of generously salted boiling water. Oct.

Sarashina

Horii 45 E. 20th St.

This ninth-generation soba maker has served its rare and refreshing white-buckwheat noodles to the Shogun, the Japanese imperial court, and Anthony Bourdain, according to its PR. Now anyone ambling along the gritty streets of the Flatiron district can give them a shot. Oct.

Farra 71 Worth St.

Three doors down from parent tasting-menu restaurant Atera, this Tribeca wine bar has 20 seats, 25 wines by the glass (and free run of Atera’s cellar), and a name that’s an old Basque word for “revelry.” The American menu’s Nordic accent can be detected in dishes like smoked halibut with roe, fresh

cheese, and sourdough, and desserts like yogurt, basil, and rhubarb. Oct.

October 384 Broome St.

This ten-seat Nolita spot might epitomize this moment in Food, or at least food buzzwords: fastcasual, plant-based, with its own hydroponic garden and proprietar­y delivery app (Greenwich Village to Tribeca to start). There will be rice made from cauliflowe­r, fries made from carrots, and avocado shakes. Oct.

Ahgassi 315 Fifth Ave.

The specialty of this little shop of vegan horrors is gopchang, or beef intestines, cut up into bite-size pieces and cooked at the table, each of which is outfitted with a Koreanstyl­e grill. There’s also tongue, stomach, brisket, short rib, kimchee stew, and tripe fried rice. The owners are the folks from Koreanbarb­ecue celebrity hot spot Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong. Nov.

Toko Herald Square subway station; N.E. corner, Broadway and 32nd St.

Finally a way to pass the time while waiting for the Q train: This 18-seat omakase specialist is located in a subway station. Descend at 32nd and Broadway and tuck into some toro. Nov.

Da Toscano 24 Minetta Ln.

Some restaurant spaces hold a special allure for chefs. Take the one at 24 Minetta Lane. That’s where Michael Toscano ran the kitchen of the short-lived Perla for two years, earning accolades for his gutsy Italian cooking before he decamped to South Carolina to open a restaurant with his wife, Caitlin. Now he’s back for an encore performanc­e. Caitlin is on front-of-the-house duty, while Michael makes the pasta and gets reacquaint­ed with an old pal, the wood-burning oven. Dec.

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