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Nostalgia’s in the air in New York City, where hot restaurants are springing up in renovated but still old-timey hotels, chefs are reopening their former operations, and even an ancient speakeasy has been revived.
Back after making his name as a New Nordic phenom in Brooklyn, but closing two years ago, chef Fredrik Berselius has been wowing hard to wow New Yorkers with more and more sophisticated twists on elemental eating at this reopened venue.
Website: askanyc.com
Address: 47 South 5th St., Brooklyn
Phone number: 929-337-6792
Number of seats: 24
Ten-course tasting menu: $145; 19-course: $215
Popular dishes: Caviar with grilled onion, sustainable Finnish caviar from Carelian and lemon verbena; oyster with green gooseberries and juniper; lichen with chanterelle, cream that has been heavily reduced and caramelized, preserved pine shoots and broth from mushroom seasoned with chanterelle vinegar; langoustine cooked in aromatic herbs, nasturtium and sauce made from langoustine head.
What others say: “One of the rewards of working as a restaurant critic for a few years is getting to see chefs growing into their ambitions. On my watch, few have done this as dramatically and successfully as Aska’s chef, Fredrik Berselius.” –Pete Wells, The New York Times
Lichen with chanterelle
Caviar with grilled onion
The latest addition to the empire of Keith McNally (Balthazar, Odeon, Morandi, et al.) takes up in a lush setting inside the lavishly renovated historical throwback hotel The Beekman in the otherwise quiet and staid Financial District.
Website: augustineny.com
Address: 5 Beekman St.
Phone number: 212-375-0010
Number of seats: 90 in the dining room, 18 at the bar
Entrée price range: $31-$60
Popular dishes: Halibut en cocotte with black truffle, fennel confit, roasted leeks and lobster jus; sea urchin spaghettini with king crab and pickled jalapeños; leg lamb aux fines herbes with flageolet beans, escarole and lamb jus.
What others say: “ Even if he’s not always the very first to plant a flag, [McNally’s] presence in an unlikely neighborhood somehow legitimizes it.” –Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld, Grub Street
Bar
Porterhouse steak
Competition with Keith McNally’s Augustine in the same downtown hotel, The Beekman, this similarly boisterous eatery belongs to Tom Colicchio, who turns his eye to old-fashioned New York and the kind of cuisine that fed it.
Website: fowlerandwells.com
Address: 5 Beekman St.
Phone number: 212-658-1848
Number of seats: 88
Entrée price range: $31-$65
Popular dishes: Chestnut agnolotti with celery root and black truffles; chicory salad with pears, candied walnuts and Roquefort; rabbit schnitzel with pistachios, chanterelles, roasted lemon and garlic confit.
What others say: “Colicchio and executive chef Bryan Hunt’s menu feels retro without being kitschy: oysters Rockefeller, a warm lobster salad, rabbit schnitzel.” –Sierra Tishgart, Eater
Interior
Lobster Thermidor
The operators behind the revered Estela and Café Altro Paradiso changed tacks to take on the dining space of The Met Breuer, a new incarnation for the contemporary collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a building occupied for decades by the Whitney Museum.
Website: florabarnyc.com
Address: 945 Madison Ave.
Phone number: 646-558-5383
Number of seats: 74 in the dining room, 15 at the bar, 36 outside
Entrée price range: $30-$38
Popular dishes: Omelet with hackleback and trout roe; steak with beets and Béarnaise; coconut sorbet with celery and pineapple.
What others say: “Even though they want it to be a place for Upper East Siders to frequent, [the operators] realize that their edict was partly to bring their downtown chill to a neighborhood that’s notorious for lacking good but casual dining options.” –Serena Dai, Eater
Interior
Caesar salad, lamb ribs, rutabaga tart
A storied old speakeasy that played home to literary types in Greenwich Village for decades (and birthed the industry term “86,” owing to its address), this basement haven that had been shuttered for years was taken over and rebuilt as a considerably more upscale tribute of its old self by Alessandro Borgognone of Sushi Nakazawa.
Website: chumleysnewyork.com
Address: 86 Bedford St.
Phone number: no phone
Number of seats: 25 in the lounge, eight at the bar, 13 in separate bar room
Entrée price range: $23-$40
Popular dishes: 86’d Burger with Chumley’s sauce, bone marrow and crispy shallot; beef tartare with hazelnut, confit tomato and Ombra cheese; oysters with avocado mignonette and crispy garlic.
What others say: “I am ashamed to admit it, but I never actually thought that the legendary West Village New York bar Chumley’s would ever reopen after being closed for nearly a decade. Shame on me.” –Noah Rothbaum, The Daily Beast
Interior
Crispy chicken
