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After a sweltering summer dominated by, thank goodness, raw bars and ice cream, fall is shaping up to be a season of serious eating. Long-awaited spots are at last opening their doors: Phoenix Palace (August; 85 Bowery), from a group of friends who opened Potluck Club, is an homage to Chinatown’s now gone movie theatres, complete with ticket booth and marquee, and a menu bridging Cantonese banquet food and global-pantry adventurousness, such as olive-studded youtiao, fried dough sticks, with a ’nduja-ish jam made from Chinese sausage. Uptown, Cocina Consuelo (August; 130 Hamilton Place), which grew out of an apartment supper club—albeit one whose husband-and-wife operators are alums of some of the city’s finest restaurants—will serve artful interpretations of Pueblan Mexican food: bone-marrow birria at dinnertime, dulce-de-leche donuts during the day. I could not personally be more excited by the pairing of the genius baker Zoë Kanan with the Court Street Grocers guys, whose Elbow Bread (September; 1 Ludlow St.) will offer inventive knishes, rye-flour palmiers, and other Jewish-ish fare. Williamsburg’s storied Kellogg’s Diner (September; 518 Metropolitan Ave., Brooklyn) has been saved from its long slide into charismatic decrepitude by the restaurateur Louis Skibar (of the revamped Old John’s); the new iteration will have a Tex Mex-inflected menu overseen by the talented chef Jackie Carnesi, and—most important—it’ll be open 24/7.
High rollers are likely already bragging about having an in at Clemente Bar (October; 11 Madison Ave.), a more relaxed—but not exactly casual—upstairs sibling to Eleven Madison Park, designed with (and named for) the artist Francesco Clemente, whose gilded frescoes will fill the walls; expect high-concept cocktails, ritzy bar snacks, and a flotilla of tech bros. The history and terrain of Australia are a focus at Acru (August; 79 MacDougal St.), a fancy tasting-menu spot from the people behind Atomix, the group’s first restaurant that’s not specifically Korean; there’s buzz about a seaweed-based riff on Vegemite. Transcontinental compare-and-contrasts will be inevitable when Joo Ok (August; 22 W. 32nd St.) gets going; after seven years in Seoul, the ultra-high-end modern Korean restaurant picked up its entire operation (including some of the staff) and relocated to New York—a new restaurant and a well-established one at once.
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Prospect Heights’ Ciao, Gloria is expanding with Pasta Night (September; 575 Vanderbilt Ave., Brooklyn)—a chic little trattoria in the back, for aperitivo and dinner, a chic little alimentari in the front, with specialty Italian goods to bring home. Andrew Tarlow, the restaurateur who brought us Marlow & Sons, is building Borgo (September; 124 E. 27th St.), his first Manhattan restaurant, around a wood-burning oven. Confidant (October; 67 35th St., Brooklyn) has the dubious honor of being the first full-service restaurant to open in the Industry City complex—not really a dinner destination—but, with alums of Roberta’s at the helm, it’s worthy of attention. Summer’s two hottest trends (French, seafood) combine at Seahorse (September; 201 Park Ave. South), from the folks behind Lure Fishbar, which might, finally, hopefully, breathe some life back into the W hotel in Union Square. Commerce, the beloved West Village spot that closed in 2015, will be reborn uptown, as Cafe Commerce (September; 964 Lexington Ave.); fingers crossed that the steak Diane and coconut cake survive the revival. A friend tells me that Zimmi’s (September; 72 Bedford St.), a French-inflected restaurant run by the drinks savant Jenni Guizio, with food from a Flora Bar alum, “might be the restaurant that saves the West Village.” I hadn’t quite realized that it needed saving, but I’m ready to receive the gospel. ♦
Sourse: newyorker.com
