McDonald.

John McDonald and Josh Pickard are about to sign a lease on the space at 257 Sixth Avenue. You’ll recall the space formerly housed Scuderia, the Italian restaurant owned by Silvano Marchetto and his daughter Leyla. The new, as-yet-unnamed spot from McDonald and Pickard will be a 90-seat Mexican place with a guacamole bar and 40 outdoor café seats. Like their restaurant B&B on Houston Street (and the Dutch Miami, in which Pickard is a partner) the new spot will be designed by Meyer Davis, and McDonald says the space will be “heavy wood, brick and tile, mostly vintage fixtures.” The team says they’re aiming for a late-August opening, but how does McDonald, owner of Lure, B&B, and MercBar, feel about opening a spot outside of Soho? “While it’s not immediately on Mercer Street, it’s close enough,” he says.

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Filed Under: coming soon, john mcdonald, josh pickard, scuderia, west village

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Gallagher, at work in Vietnam.

In April, Cornelius Gallagher opened Dragonfly on the Upper East Side. The opening was a homecoming of sorts for the chef, who first garnered acclaim during his time at the original Oceana. But it’s been six years since he left the restaurant. Roughly eighteen months ago, while traveling through Asia, Gallagher fell so in love with the food that he made it the focal point of Dragonfly’s Asian–influenced menu. We caught up with the chef to see how his first month in business has been, and to get his take on the trip that changed his career.

How’s the opening been?
It took a lot of work to actually get it open. [The space] had been a Mexican place for 28 years, and I did the new design and systems by myself for the most part. I even ran the cable. It was killing me and I broke down and got some help at the end, but I saved money and learned a lot along the way. We’ve been very busy so far, mostly with local people. We are aspiring to be a local place with tasty food.

Tell me how you first came up with the idea of an Asian restaurant.
I first fell in love with Asian flavors when I worked with Gray Kunz in ‘97; I learned to blend spices and contrast textures. Then, I went on a road trip to Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, and Thailand and I’ve never before been impacted so deeply. I got so immersed. It changed the way I look at Asian food.

What was the most impressive restaurant?
We started at Yan Toh Heen in Hong Kong, which is Michelin starred. I was eating a shaking beef — called that because it shakes when placed on a hot rock — served with golden coin turnips. The people at the next table were served a Peking Duck. The fat was completely rendered, and the skin was served as a separate course; it was stunning. I stared so hard that the table sent over a piece of skin to our table and then we ordered it ourselves. It was the best duck of my life.

We had shark fin soup in China, which was very gelatinous; more texture than taste. Flower crabs were delicious, in a sauce made with yellow wine and crab innards, but we paid about $200 for them. Things are so fresh. A truck rolls in with buckets of water — everything arrives live. You can choose your fish while it is still swimming.

Any surprises during the trip? Things you weren’t expecting?
My friend Jason Casey, who I worked with at Daniel, had been the pastry chef at Jean Georges Shanghai. He brought me to a strip joint because he said they had the best pork knuckle. It was amazing. The skin was paper thin, blistered, and crispy, and we ate it with our hands.

The trip wasn’t only about being a customer, right? I heard you worked in a few kitchens while you were there, too.
Yes, and I got to make rice paper in a hut on the side of the road in Vietnam. They had canvas drums that fit over boiling water, and there were two old ladies inside a hut with a bucket of rice milk. We spread it over the drums like sauce on a pizza, and after it cooked for a minute we would roll it off the drum onto wicker strips that look like room dividers, and let the rice paper dry in the sun. I also made thin rice-milk crepes at Banh Xeo in Ho Chi Minh City, and cooked lunch in a restaurant along the Mekong delta.

Gallagher, with an M60 in Vietnam.Courtesy of: Cornelius Gallagher

And you of course got to try all the street food, right?
Yes. There were outdoor woks filled with wood. They had holes in the bottom where hair dryers would blow air to stoke the flame. The heat that generates is unreal.

We went to Jay Fai, which is supposed to have the best street food in Bangkok, and the chef was cooking alone on two woks at once. She threw an egg on one and the wok was so hot that the egg souffléd up to the size of a softball. She also made millionaire’s crab, which is called that because they use so much crabmeat.

Any ideas you want to use at Dragonfly?
We had live mantas prawns. They were swimming around a tank, and each had about 50 legs; they looked like snakes. I’ve been speaking to purveyors, trying to get them here for satay, which would be cool because they are so long.

There was pork neck cooked over charcoal that had great flavor, and I sourced it for Dragonfly from Mo Se Fund farms. And I’m trying to get fresh durian.

How has the restaurant’s menu changed since you opened?
I’ve been tweaking things. I’ve just added a whole branzino wrapped in baby bamboo, stuffed with lemongrass, Thai basil, and kaffir lime leaves, served with shredded vegetables in fish sauce, and garnished with mint and basil.

I’m also now doing head-on jumbo shrimp rolled in chopped phyllo with yuzu remoulade.

Any souvenirs in the restaurant from your travels?
Yes! There is a bottle of cobra-and-scorpion snake wine on the bar. The creatures are actually floating in the alcohol. Diners are always trying to grab the bottle.

Earlier: Cornelius Gallagher Returns to Manhattan With Dragonfly

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Filed Under: interviews, cornelius gallagher, dragonfly, upper east side

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A lovely spot for a cocktail and some pancakes.

At this point, Maialino, on the ground floor of Gramercy Park Hotel, is so popular that it’s practically a New York institution. Now Danny Meyer will renew his focus on the hotel’s rooftop bar and café, Gramercy Terrace: On May 18, the Union Square Hospitality Group–operated space will reopen with a newly welcoming attitude, reworked menus, and a brand-new Stumptown coffee bar.

The space will be open to the public for breakfast, lunch, and weekend brunch (evenings are reserved for private events). Chef Jeff Seizer’s menus are full of American classics. So expect biscuit sandwiches and pancakes for breakfast; cobb salad and burgers with “fancy sauce” — maybe the first-ever on-menu Step Brothers shout-out — for lunch.

There’s also a new cocktail menu, which you can check out below, and the aforementioned Stumptown coffee bar. All in the refurbished rooftop garden space, and no doubt served with Danny Meyer’s unyieldingly hospitable and helpful service style.

Gramercy Terrace Breakfast [PDF]
Gramercy Terrace Lunch [PDF]
Gramercy Terrace Cocktails [PDF]

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Filed Under: what to eat, danny meyer, gramercy park hotel, gramercy terrace, reopenings, union square hospitality group

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After a little more than a year in business, super-trendy Niko, the Japanese restaurant that took over the former Honmura Ahn space on Mercer Street, has closed — for now, anyway. “We had a flood; whether or not we reopen depends on what happens with the insurance,” says owner Cobi Levy, who was a partner in the equally trendy and short-lived Charles before opening Niko. But sources close to the situation say that Saturday was the restaurant’s last night, and the damage caused by a burst water heater could have easily been repaired if the restaurant had wanted to remain in business.

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Filed Under: temporary closings, closings, cobi levy, niko, soho

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Chef goes Kosh.

This June, Jezebel will be joining the ranks of the nouveau Jewish restaurants opening around the city like Kutsher’s, Jack’s Wife Freda, and La Vara. Menachem Senderowicz and Henry Stimler will open their “Modern American Kosher” spot at 323 Broadway in Tribeca, with Cafe Boulud alum and former Food & Wine Best New Chef Bradford Thompson as culinary director. “Think of our menu as modern riffs on American dishes, using only the freshest seasonal ingredients … and the food just happens to be kosher,” says Thompson. “There’s been this crazy attention towards updated Jewish fare but what we’re looking to do is take a great chef like Bradford Thompson and have him prepare sophisticated American food in a sexy, young environment,” adds Senderowicz. The 150-seat bi-level space, designed by Gregory Okshteyn of Studios Go, will have a downstairs cocktail lounge (L’chaim!) and dining room upstairs.

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Filed Under: openings, bradford thompson, jezebel

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A rendering of the dining room.

Partner Mark Stern is getting ever-closer to finally opening Prandial in the former Justin’s space at 31 West 21st Street. In fact, the restaurant has found its chef: Pierre Rougey, a former instructor at the French Culinary Institute and once the chef at Emerson’s in Babylon. “Both Pierre and I feel that classic French techniques are used to prepare great food of all nationalities,” Stern says, noting that the menu will be “progressive American.” That means you’ll find dishes like avocado-crab salad with grapefruit and watercress; oxtail-and-dumpling soup; and wild striped bass with fingerlings, oyster mushrooms, Thai basil, and English pea coulis. Right now the team is aiming to open the second week of June.

Earlier: Prandial Coming to the Former Justin’s Space in 2012

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Filed Under: coming soon, mark stern, pierre rougey, prandial

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New Nordic is headed westward.

It’s called striking while the iron is hot: The owners of restaurant-of-the-moment Acme are looking to expand on their very successful concept, and are actively searching for a second location with chef Mads Refslund. Industry sources say the plan for the new place would be larger and slightly more upscale. One spot the group has its eyes on: 206 Spring Street, former home to Fiamma, which real-estate sources confirm owner Stephen Hanson has put on the market and is looking to sell. If it means more opportunities for beer-and-bread porridge, count us in as supporters.

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Filed Under: empire building, acme, fiamma, mads refslund, soho

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Ohhh’toya!

Ootoya, the popular Tokyo chain, is set to open it’s first Manhattan branch at 8 West 18th Street next Wednesday, April 5th. The 72-seat restaurant, which features high ceilings, an open kitchen, a long bar, and shoji screen, will feature a variation on Izakaya cuisine. Grub got an early look at the lunch menu (which is pending last-minute approval from Tokyo) and saw entrees — which are served with rice, miso soup, homemade pickles, and egg custard — such as grilled chicken and vegetables with black vinegar sauce, grilled pork loin in a cinnamon sauce, grilled washu beef tongue, grilled mackerel and homemade yukon-potato-and-cheese croquettes. Sushi, soba noodles, and homemade tofu are among the other menu offerings.

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Filed Under: openings, Ootoya

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These guys will be excited.

The owners of Il Mulino, who, as we now know, are planning a new restaurant at 37 East 60th Street, have come up with a name and concept. Bistecca will be an Italian steakhouse with lots of leather, banquettes and a large bar. “At Il Mulino maybe we have one type of steak; here we will have 5 or 6,” explained Jerry Katzoff, a partner in the restaurant. “The sides won’t be typical of a steakhouse; there will be pastas and broccoli rabe.” Of course there will be Il Mulino favorites, like bronzino and veal parmesan. “We expect to do a diverse lunch business, which we don’t have downtown,” said Katzoff. Though he maintained a deal has not been finalized, Katzoff is hoping for a June or July opening.

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Filed Under: steak, bistecca, il mulino, openings

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The 78th Street location.

News of Sushi of Gari’s expansion into the 130 West Broadway space that formerly housed Bouley Bakery has until now flown sort of under the radar. But now a rep for Masatoshi “Gari” Sugio tells us the fourth Gari location will open this June. What to expect? “The menu and concept will basically be the same as the uptown restaurants,” said a rep for Gari. Which sounds good to us, given how much we like the uptown spots.

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Filed Under: empire building, coming soon, sushi of gari, tribeca

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French fare stays put on the UES.

Last time we checked in on the Upper East Side’s Le Bilboquet, the 63rd Street space was set to close, about to be taken over by the Roberto Cavalli store. But the 37-seat restaurant has been given an extension until the end of the year.

“They started pushing us out; we are little guys but we don’t like to be pushed,” says manager William Leroux. “A lot of time and money was being spent with lawyers, so we came to an understanding. Hopefully, this will give us time for a transition.”

According to owner Philippe Delgrange, there are three spots — within the area of 61st to 65th Streets, between Park and Fifth Avenues — that are under consideration for the restaurant’s new home. Lexroux says of the real estate search, “Without sounding snobbish, we can’t cross Park Avenue.”

The new Bilboquet will be a bit larger, but still intimate. “For the sake of the brand, we need to evoke a few characteristics like staying somewhat small,” Leroux says. “We want to develop, but not go the Vegas route.” Maybe not Vegas, but Delgrange says he has signed leases for Bilboquets in Rio and Sao Paolo.

Earlier: Is Le Bilboquet L’Over?

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Filed Under: real estate woes, le bilboquet, upper east side

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Ken & Cook, coming soon.

There were rumors circulating for a while that a juice bar would be moving into the Travertine space at 19 Kenmare, but now Grub learns that Artan Gjoni, a former general manager at Norwood and Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Mercer Kitchen, will take over the location and open Ken & Cook at the end of the month. The plan is for a 65-seat restaurant with outdoor tables and a downstairs lounge called L’il Charlie’s (you may recall the space housed Little Charlie’s Clam Bar before becoming Travertine).

What to expect from the restaurant: Richard Diamonte, who left as executive sous-chef at Jean Georges in January, will serve as chef, and is planning to offer dishes such as grilled-squid salad with yogurt, pickled chilis, and mache; pan-seared black sea bass with beans and bacon-leek vinaigrette; crispy pork belly with coleslaw and polenta; and short ribs with celery root purée.

As for that lounge, Gjoni promises, “It will have screenings and events, and will be a playground for grown-ups — not a loud space with bottle service.”

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Filed Under: coming soon, artan gjoni, ken & cook, richard diamonte

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