Just when you thought the market for Neapolitan pizza had reached saturation, along comes Kesté’s Roberto Caporuscio and his old mentor Antonio Starita, who’ve teamed up to open Don Antonio in Hell’s Kitchen next Tuesday, February 7. In certain pizza-world circles, this is huge — like Gennaro Lombardi rising from the grave to sling slices with Dom DeMarco. For the uninitiated, Starita is third-generation pizza royalty. Along with Sophia Loren, his family’s Naples pizzeria starred in the Vittorio De Sica film L’Oro di Napoli. The man has served pizza to popes. He has tomato sauce coursing through his veins. In short, there is nothing about dough he doesn’t know. His student, Caporuscio, the U.S. president of the Association of Neapolitan Pizza Makers, is no slouch either.

Together, they’ve compiled a menu that reads like a last-meal request from a Neapolitan-pizza addict on death row. There are red pizzas, white pizzas, fried pizzas, fried-and-then-baked pizzas, stuffed pizzas, calzones, and many other doughy delights. The wood-fired oven, it goes without saying, is custom-built from volcanic soil and stone. There’s room for 70 devout pizza worshiopers, and an Italian-accented cocktail list that employs both Campari and black squid-ink. Here’s a look at the menu and the space.

Menu [PDF]

Don Antonio, 309 W. 50th St., nr. Eighth Ave.; 646-719-1043

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Filed Under: openings, antonio starita, don antonio by starita, hell’s kitchen, pie tidings, pizza, roberto caporuscio, slideshow

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A big game requires a big sandwich.

When you’re a pair of sports junkies and you own an excellent sandwich shop and your hometown team is going to the Super Bowl, it’s practically your civic duty: You make said sandwiches available in supersize form come game day. That’s how Num Pang’s Ben Daitz and Ratha Chaupoly see it, and the result comes on customized three-foot Parisi hero rolls, feeds ten to twelve, and includes grilled corn on the cob with chile-mayo and coconut flakes.

$85; order by February 3 for $10 delivery or pickup at 21 E. 12th St., nr. University Pl.; 212-255-3271; or 140 E. 41st St., nr. Third Ave.; 212-867-8889

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Filed Under: what to eat, agenda, num pang, super bowl

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The Smile’s Matt Kliegman, Carlos Quirarte, and chef Melia Marden — a.k.a. the coolest kids in the food biz — have discovered another atmospheric location from which to ply their healthy, tasty brand of “Manhattan-Mediterranean” cooking. This one’s on Howard Street in the former (and apparently misnamed) Chinese snack shop known as Lucky Bakery. Unlike the Smile proper, the emphasis is on takeout. “I’ve always felt that takeaway food in L.A. and London was way ahead of New York,” says Kliegman, and now he aims to put a stop to it. How will he do it? With delicata-squash salads, seared fennel with orange and parsley, rosemary-rubbed rotisserie chicken, and much more from Marden’s daily changing menu. Plus, Smile to Go has something London and L.A. do not: former M. Wells pastry chef Brenna White, who’s in charge of kale tarts, cinnamon buns, Cheddar-apple biscuits, and honey pies. Check out the grub in our slideshow, then go get some when the shop opens later this week.

Smile, 22 Howard St., nr. Crosby St.; no phone

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The big news out of Brooklyn last week, as reported on Eater via Mouthfuls, is that Franny’s, which opened on Flatbush Avenue eight years ago, is moving to a bigger space nearby. Now owner Francine Stephens divulges more details: The move is planned for November and the space, in a former Blockbuster video store at 348 Flatbush, is double the size of the current Franny’s — where the no-reservations waits are legendary, and as you’ve might have heard, worth it. The expansion is intended, says Stephens, “to make the experience better, and to accommodate large parties which we never could before.”

The new Franny’s will take reservations for six or more, and a private dining room will be available for groups larger than ten. Double the amount of space means double the number of people who want featherlight pizzas, so Stephens and her husband and partner, chef Andrew Feinberg, are building two brick ovens in the new location as opposed to the one currently in heavy use at the original Franny’s. Franny’s 2.0 will also serve lunch and do takeout. “We have the lease, we’re designing the space, construction starts in May,” Stephens says. The move, she adds, is scheduled for November 1.

And what about the original Franny’s, you ask? After a thorough renovation, it will become a new restaurant called Marco’s, named after the couple’s son and slated to open in spring of 2013, which also happens to be the publication date of their first cookbook. “Marco’s will be an Italian restaurant, all regions, more authentic Italian and more classic than Franny’s,” says Stephens. It will focus on fresh pasta, versus Franny’s emphasis on dried, and the original brick oven will be replaced with a wood-burning grill and spit rotisserie. As for speculation that the new incarnation of the old Franny’s space will delve into fine dining, Stephens denies it like someone who’s been accused of a crime they didn’t commit. “‘Fine dining’ doesn’t resonate with me,” she says. “We’re Flatbush Avenue, we’re Brooklyn.” Marco’s will serve, as she puts it, “what Andrew wants to be cooking.”

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Filed Under: openings, franny’s

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Crispy smelt with fried pickles, lime, and Sriracha-tobiko sauce.

In booze-speak, ABV stands for alcohol by volume. It’s also the name of the East Harlem wine bar slated to open next weekend around the corner from Earl’s Beer & Cheese, whence come ABV chef Corey Cova and co-owner Mike Cesari. Compared to the diminutive Earl’s, the 60-seat ABV is practically palatial, with a wine bar, a food bar, and three communal tables. Here, Cesari has teamed up with childhood friends Noah Shannon and his wife, Alexis Kahn, the former director of beverage education at the French Culinary Institute. Her user-friendly list plays with the concept of volume, offering wine by the glass (starting at $7), the half-glass, the half-bottle, and “by consumption,” meaning you pay for whatever measure you drink.

And cheese savant Cova hasn’t forsaken his signature dairy — there’s Sprout Creek Ouray on the sirloin-tartare pizza, aged Cheddar on the pocket burger with fried-egg sauce, and Bayley Hazen Blue purée on the sirloin steak. For dessert: fried blueberry pie. Here’s a look at the space and some of Cova’s latest creations.

ABV Wine Bar, 1504 Lexington Ave., at 97th St.; 212-722-8959

Earlier: Earl’s Beer & Cheese Branching Out All Over the UES

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Filed Under: openings, abv, slideshow

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Little neck clams, tomato-orange broth.

Equipped with a rotisserie and a Kickstarter-funded doughnut-making robot (yes, really!), City Bakery alums Ilene Rosen and Sara Dima are almost ready to unveil their Prospect Heights canteen and mini-mart, 606 R&D, named for its address and owners’ initials. Dinner service begins next weekend, Wednesday through Sunday to start, and weekend brunch will feature dishes like “Grandma Lucy’s puffy pancake” and a Hartmann’s hot dog with fresh kraut and Polish mustard. Evening options include chicken egg drop soup with butternut squash, dandelion, and mustard greens, and braised lamb shank with prunes and black garlic, plus vegetable sides that reflect Rosen’s haute-salad-bar roots.

The rotisserie will be employed not only for chicken, served by the half or whole, but also for drippings-basted cauliflower, and “rotisserie toast” topped with Benton’s bacon. Grandaisy bread and Saxelby cheese are among the gourmet groceries sold up front, where the full bar dispenses kombucha on tap and reconceived classic cocktails like the parsnip-syrup-sweetened “Odd Fashioned.” Here’s a look inside.

606 R & D, 606 Vanderbilt Ave., nr. St. Marks Ave., Prospect Heights; 718-230-0125

Earlier: Time to Make the Doughnuts: 606 R&D Needs Your Help
Brooklyn Bound [NYM]

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Filed Under: openings, 606 r & d, prospect heights, slideshow

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Smoked goat meat on Texas toast.

Goat Town chef Julie Farias may have done time at Café Boulud and Le Bernardin, but she hasn’t forsaken her Texas roots. To prove it, she’s just launched a sensational Mondays-only Tex-Mex menu, a tribute in part to her family’s San Antonio meat-market-cum-tortilleria. On the ticket: sopa de lima, barbacoa salad, cheese enchiladas, deep-fried “puffy tacos,” and house-smoked goat meat on Texas toast by way of the neighborhood Japanese bakery (pictured). Will picky Texas gastronomes approve? “I’ll be here every Monday!” crowed an ecstatic San Antonio expat on a puffy-taco high the other night.

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Filed Under: agenda, goat town, what to eat

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Welcome to the world, Egg ‘N’ Grog pie.

You’d think that with Thanksgiving over and having met their target of 800 pies baked and sold for that holiday, the lovely ladies over at Four & Twenty Blackbirds would let up a bit and stop tempting us with dessert. Nope. No dice. Not a chance. The way they look at it: You can never have too much pie, and a holiday without one is like Christmas in Whoville without roast beast. And so they’ve been busy out in Gowanus experimenting with crusts and fillings, all the while perfecting a brand-new concoction called Egg ‘N’ Grog pie. “Essentially,” they say, “it’s an eggnog custard with a gingerbread crust.” To us, it sounds like something that might finally bridge the gap between Cosby-sweater-wearing eggnog lovers and grumpy eggnog haters. Order online at birdsblack.com.

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Filed Under: sweet news, desserts, four & twenty blackbirds, gowanus, pie, what to eat

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At the forthcoming South Village restaurant King, management has contrived a number of ways to make clientele feel like royalty. There’s the “Champagne button” installed at mezzanine tables, to summon a waiter bearing coupes, an ice bucket, and a half-bottle of Veuve Clicquot for $39. There are hors d’oeuvre like Gruyère gougères with beer cream. And then there’s the Eurocentric menu assembled by chef Francis Derby, who’s worked for the likes of Paul Liebrandt, Wylie Dufresne, and David Chang. Some highlights: maple-braised snails on rye with sauerkraut, pig’s-head tortellini with Honeycrisp-apple jus and apple salad, and beef cheek on an English muffin at lunch. Take a look at the menu and a few of Derby’s dishes.

Dinner Menu [PDF]
Cocktail Menu [PDF]
Dessert Menu [PDF]
Sunset Menu [PDF]
Lunch Menu [PDF]
Brunch Menu [PDF]

King, 5 King St., at Sixth Ave.; 212-255-0700

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Filed Under: what to eat, greenwich village, king, openings, slideshow

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Chicken leg confit, baby lettuces, orange-dijon vinaigrette.

As long as there is wine, there will be attempts to demystify it. The latest, the forthcoming Corkbuzz Wine Studio, is master sommelier Laura Maniec’s wine bar-cum-living room, which will launch all-inclusive $100 Sunday suppers in December, casual classes on “Takeout Pairings” and “What to Drink Now” in January, and happy-hour blind tastings every Friday night. On a daily basis, though, the focus will be on wine and what to eat with it. Among the options: scallion-pancake-battered Kumamoto oysters; bone marrow with blue-cheese brûlée; and cavatelli with Brussels sprouts, pecorino, and mint, courtesy of chef Hayan Yi, a veteran of Daniel and Le Bernardin. If all goes according to plan, Maniec will start serving in a week or so; here’s her opening menu.

Menu [PDF]
Corkbuzz Wine Studio, 13 E. 13th St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 646-873-6071

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Filed Under: openings, corkbuzz, corkbuzz wine studio, greenwich village, nightlife, wine

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Alex Raij.

Until now, it’s been easy for Alex Raij and her husband and partner Eder Montero to commute between their Spanish spots — the Chelsea tapas bar El Quinto Pino and its Basque sibling, Txikito, conveniently situated just across Ninth Avenue. That will change come early next year, when the co-chefs plan to open La Vara, their first Brooklyn venture, in the landmarked Cobble Hill space that briefly housed Breukelen. Although they weren’t actively seeking a Kings County location, Raij and Montero were charmed by the residential character of the surrounding blocks. “We wanted to go to a real neighborhood, not a commercial strip like Smith or Atlantic,” says Raij, who considers her establishments neighborhood restaurants that happen to serve Spanish food.

In the case of La Vara, that food (and wine) will take inspiration in part from the southern Mediterranean regions, and in part from the Moorish and Jewish legacies in Spanish cuisine. The name is particularly apt: Aside from referring to a unit of measure, La Vara was the name of a Brooklyn newspaper written in the Sephardic language Ladino, also known as Judaeo–Spanish. With its original tin ceiling and brick walls intact, the space is in fairly good shape, and if renovation goes especially smoothly, the new owners could be serving latkes by Hanukkah.

268 Clinton St., nr. Verandah Pl., Cobble Hill; no phone yet

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Filed Under: empire building, alex raij, cobble hill

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Earl’s diminutive digs.

Fans of Earl’s, the fantastic cheesecentric beer bar on the cusp of Carnegie Hill and East Harlem, love everything about the place except that it’s so tiny and crowded they can never get in. When the equally small adjacent space became available, hopes were understandably raised for a moderate expansion. Alas, it’s not to be, but the good news is that the storefront has been acquired by Earl’s co-owner Adam Clark, who is in the midst of converting it into the Guthrie Inn, a cocktail bar with a limited bar-snack menu. But that’s not all.

Clark’s partner, Michael Cresari, who also co-owns the recently relocated Vinyl Wine shop, is working on a wine bar around the corner named ABV, for the alcohol-by-volume percentage you find on every bottle. When the 55-seat spot opens at 1504 Lexington Avenue near 97th Street, hopefully by the end of the year, its kitchen will be run by Earl’s talented chef Corey Cova. And here’s a tip for Earl’s patrons looking to avoid the evening crush: The place is now open for lunch Thursday through Sunday with a slightly abbreviated, but no less cheesy menu.

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Filed Under: empire building, abv, earl’s beer & cheese, openings, the guthrie inn, upper east side

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