The Bowery is boiling!

Soon, another new kitchen will be turning up the heat on the Bowery – which is turning into a hip restaurant row. We recently talked about Faustina, chef Scott Conant’s second Manhattan outpost adjacent to the Cooper Square Hotel’s lobby. The Italian fare seems to be delighting customers, as the restaurant is always packed and lively (huge difference from previous Table 8).

Now the buzz has been around – for a while – about Pulino’s Pizzeria and Grill: Keith McNally’s (pictured) latest venture. March 15^th is the official opening date, for lunch and breakfast only. It has been open for friends and family tasting evenings. We can’t wait! As big fans of the NYC bistro emperor, we look forward to Nate Appleman’s cookery (I heard there will be some serious meat butchering going on) and pizzas prepared on their two large wood burning fire ovens. Call, they started taking reservations today! 212-226-1966

And as if you think that's not enough evidence to call the Bowery the newest hip restaurant row (Gemma, DBGB, Faustina, Pulino's), add some Mexican spice to it with the recent opening of Hecho en Dumbo. Chef Danny Mena and partner Ethan Smith garnered a reputation as one of New York's premier destinations for authentic Mexican cuisine. They relocated from their original Brooklyn location in order to expand and better accommodate their growing clientele. The space is rustic with brick walls, wooden ceiling, lot's of concrete and iron fixtures. South of the border just came closer. Head to Hecho en Dumbo for a real made in Mexico food experience. Like I said: the Bowery esta super caliente.

354 Bowery (btw. Great Jones & East 4th St) 212-937-4245

Pigging out at Maialino

Meyer’s “Mailanino” (suckling pig in Italian) is the latest success on the list of this chief NYC restaurateur (Gramercy Park, 11 Madison, Shake Shack, Tabla). We’ve talked about it when it opened a few months ago, and I am happy to report that it continues booming, and not only that: service is fantastically friendly. You should know that the front portion of the restaurant, - which is my favorite anyways (more lively, and closer to what a typical Italian cantina feels like) - is reserved for walk-ins. If you want to eat at the bar counter you put your name down with one of the bartenders, if you want one of the little tables, speak to the hostess… and here comes the insider tip: the center communal table with the stools is up for grabs, first come first served.

Be smart and quick, as most people are oblivious to that valuable fact… So, if the place is packed (which always is starting at 6pm) grab an Aperol at the bar, guarantee your name on the list, but stay on the look out for the center counter. Someone gets up, and it’s yours.The food is rich and true to its roots. The carciofini fritti are delicious and both the spaghetti alla carbonara and the tonnarelli cacio e pepe are made of fresh pasta and delicious. Of course, the place asks for it: literally pig out on the maialino al forno. Real Italian-mamma style portion: it feeds 3 people…

Maialino

at the Gramercy Park Hotel

2 Lexington Avenue

212 777 2410

Jean-Georges Vongerichten opens a restaurant in The Mark hotel, in the Upper East Side

By Beatriz Tasso Fragoso, special contributor

It's been a while, now, that the Upper East Side has been brushing off the dust and seeing the opening of great new places, from Gagosian's boutique to beautiful parfumeries. Now, it's Jean-Georges Vongerichten's turn. The überchef, of Jean-Georges and Perry Street fame, has just opened a restaurant in the recently-refurbished The Mark hotel. (To read more about the hotel and see pics and a video, click here).

He's named it, simply, The Mark Restaurant.

Here's how the Jean-Georges himself describes the new place:

"Ten years ago, I took Marja to the bar at The Mark Hotel for our second date. I’m back at the bar now—running it and the adjoining restaurant. All to impress Marja…
Kidding aside, here’s a glimpse of how I create a restaurant. I’m so excited about opening another place on the upper east side of Manhattan. The space is simply stunning, thanks to renowned designer Jacques Grange. It feels high-end and flush, with elegant touches like these columns of light.
(...)

Grange completely gutted the old restaurant so that the main dining room has a skylight ceiling and the bar flows seamlessly to the raw bar, lounge, dining room, and private dining room. Sliding partitions, built out of this gorgeous textured wood, open up the space, but can also be closed for private parties.

 

To help my diners to feel completely at home here, Grange chose chairs that are as beautiful as they are comfortable.I also chose to create a menu of comforting, everyday food to contrast the refined ambiance. I'm working with my team of chefs to reinvent and perfect the rustic, classic dishes from my childhood in France.Perhaps my favorite new dish, which will debut at the Mark, is my Croque M. It’s a cross between a croque monsieur and croque madame. The secret to my decadent version? I make a Mornay sauce with gruyere and comte, then spread it on slices of fresh pain de mie. I do a triple-decker version with Flying Pig Farm ham, comte, and gruyere, then broil it with a quail egg on top. Delicious.Of course, I’m still pushing the envelope with new creations as well. Here, I’ve made a buckwheat fettuccine (as tasty as Matsugen’s soba, but completely different in this treatment), and top it with clams, mussels, sweet shrimp, crab, and uni. With a little chile, the nuttiness of the buckwheat really comes out.For dessert, pastry chef Erik Hubert returns to his French roots too. He’ll make whole cakes, like this delicate vanilla and chocolate-citrus charlotte, and serve generous slices.
Pierre Schutz (on the left), who headed my kitchen at Vong and has been with me for decades, will be the chef de cuisine at the Mark.He already has the kitchen ready to go. We’re currently providing the room service for the hotel and putting the finishing touches on our restaurant menu."*

The Mark: 77th St East, 25, tel. (212) 744-4300, www.themarkhotel.com

 *Jean-Georges account of the restaurant was borrowed from the chef's personal blog, linked here.

Benvenuta Faustina at the Cooper Square Hotel

Photo: ny.eater.com

Now that the buzz has subsided a little bit, it’s time to check out Faustina, the much talked about 4-week takeover of ex-restaurant Table 8 in the Cooper Square Hotel. 

By coincidence (I live very close by) I was at the bar on the second floor of the hotel twice for drinks last week during the restaurant’s “friends & family” tasting/test week. The festive mood was in the air: both times a beautiful blonde with a huge scribble pad that held “the list” greeted me at the lobby, and gave ma a huge bright smile when I told her I was going upstairs and not to the restaurant. I haven’t made a reservation yet for the restaurant (I’m away in the Caribbean for a winter break), but have been informed that the wait is not terribly long, so please, I urge you to try it out! Table 8 was a huge disappointment and expectations are high for Scott Conant’s post-Scarpetta digs. The molto italiano menu looks buonissimo: lardo wrapped prawns in rosemary lentils, burrata in carozza, porcini ravioli, and torrone panna cotta… Mamma mia, I’m starving!

The hotel surely needs a jolt of cool visitors. I’m so glad. For the past year since it’s opening, it felt like such a wasted nice space. You will be, as I am, happy to hear that Conant’s people have started to organize events on the hotel’s amazing (and under-used) penthouse and will soon take over the bar menu on the second floor. Good! Because just last week the sweet bar waitress didn’t know what a Lagavulin was, and politely excused herself to ask for help with the bar tender when we asked for a glass of Cointreau. Please enter Contant’s team!

Faustina at the Cooper Square Hotel
25 Cooper Square, Bowery, at East 5th Street
212-475-3400

The best of New York according to journalist Alexandra Forbes

My friend Diego is going to New York this weekend, and asked me for some tips. I did better, and decided to list them here, in a post. That way, others can make good use of the recommendations too!

Best nightlife:

1 -  Rooftop of The Standard Hotel (a.k.a. Boom Boom Room)
2- The Box. Very tough to get in unless you know one of the owners or want to burn a grand on a table booking. Sexy, burlesque shows every half hour, best, wildest party in New York.

Hottest restaurants, where food is great but
vibe and people-watching are even better:

1 - Maialino, at the Gramercy Park Hotel
2- Breslin at The Ace Hotel
3- Minetta Tavern
4- The Standard Grill at the Standard Hotel

Top restaurants (not as hip as the ones above, but absolutely first-rate)

1 - Daniel, Upper East Side
2 - Eleven Madison Park
3- The Modern, at the MoMA
(Also love Le Bernardin, Jean-Georges but they're a bit déja vu...)

Best burger

1 - Daniel Boulud's DBGB, right near The Bowery Hotel
(For top-notch burgers minus the buzz and glam, go to JG Mellon in the Upper East Side)

Best hotel bars

1 - The Bowery Hotel bar
2- The Ace (actually, the bar is also the lounge of the hotel)

The Bowery, the most charming hotel in New York

By Alexandra Forbes, special contributor

The Lower East Side may have hotels high on the hipness level, like the Hotel on Rivington, or the Thompson LES (same owners 60 Thompson).

The Upper East may have the chicest hotels, like The Carlyle, where I've always stayed with my dad.

But after having tried at least 20 different hotels in Manhattan, there's just no other that equals The Bowery in charm and cool factor. Not to mention the irresistible retro-industrial décor.




Here's the view of my room, last time I stayed there:



Not only is it beautiful, but the Bowery has the coolest hotel bar in town. Which will never become a nightclub-disguised-as-bar like its competitor, the Gramercy Park Hotel, did to the Rose bar....


The Bowery's bar is for guests only. And their guests. And the very few people who show up anyways and don't mind standing all night, since only guests are given seats.



Here's the moorish-inspired, ultra-cosy lobby:





Enough said.

Party tonight at the launch of 1500 Gallery in Chelsea

Do you ever wonder why Brazil is so in vogue? 

Let the pictures tell you why. Don't miss the opening party of the 1500 Gallery in Chelsea. On february 11th this new gallery unveils its first exhibit, a group show entitled Brazilian, which will run Feb 11 - May 1. Taste a caipirinha drink on the house (the national lime drink) and mingle with the emerging Brazilian talent. Open to the public. For more information click here.

Get a true glimpse of the nation everyone's talking about: those photos are worth way more than a thousand words.

More from the gallery's press release:

"1500 Gallery specializes in Brazilian photography, and is the first art gallery in the world with this explicit focus. 1500 interprets the notion of "Brazilian photography" to comprise photography made by Brazilian photographers, as well as images bearing a conceptual or thematic relationship to Brazil.

1500 represents the work of 17 artists, both emerging and established: 6 of 1500's photographers are represented in the São Paulo Museum of Art's Collection of Photography. 1500's collection of images includes both contemporary and vintage photography."

Photogs include  Julio Bittencourt, Bruno Cals, João Castilho, Marc Dumas, Antonio Augusto Fontes,
Bina Fonyat (1945-1985), Edouard Fraipont, Garapa (collective), Christian Gaul, Murillo Meirelles, Gustavo Pellizzon and Eduardo Queiroga.