Tag Archives: Andrew Carmellini
Lafayette
For the last ten years, one man has dominated the French restaurant scene for downtown New Yorkers: Keith McNally. It’s hard to imagine the Meatpacking District without Pastis or SoHo without Balthazaar, two highly stylized restaurants that stole Paris bistro decor and food so effectively that the trend of antiqued mirrors, subway tiles and flea market fixtures has been stolen back by a copycat place in Paris.
But with Pastis closing for nine months in 2014 as a new building is constructed above and longtime chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr leaving McNally’s empire, change is afoot. Now popular local chef Andrew Carmellini (Locanda Verde, the Dutch) is throwing his hat into the ring with the opening of French mega cafe Lafayette. The old Chinatown Brasserie (and Time Cafe/Fez) space has been overhauled with no expense spared, columns covered in glossy Art Deco patterns of inlaid wood, red leather banquettes ringing the raised dining level, walls opened up with huge plate glass windows, copper pans glinting in the saucier and rotisserie station and glassware glimmering above the bar. Baz Luhrman could walk right in and film another scene for the Great Gatsby. (more…)
Posted in Cuisine, food, French, Neighborhood, New York restaurants, Noho, restaurants
Tagged Andrew Carmellini, bars, bread, cocktails, croissants, dessert, oysters, seafood, steak
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The Dutch
If you haven’t made it to Andrew Carmellini’s new place the Dutch yet, remain calm, take a deep breath and stop speed dialing the restaurant. It may be booked for the next month, but it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact it could use some time to settle into itself, like a good bottle of wine that gets even better with more breathing room.
In the annals of the New York restaurant world, the Dutch represents an interesting play on Carmellini’s part. No longer just the chef with an award-winning Italian restaurant in Tribeca (Locanda Verde), he is stepping to center stage with this American place in Soho in the old Cub Room space. Like Blue Ribbon down the street, it’s open late, it serves fried chicken and it’s courting an industry crowd including Mario Batali, who sat placidly surveying the dining room the other night. It’s already shaping up to be the next late-night hang for chefs and food world insiders, who often tweet from the premises. (more…)
Posted in American, food, New York restaurants, restaurants, Soho
Tagged Andrew Carmellini, bars, beer, duck, Mario Batali, New York, seafood, seafood restaurants
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NYC Wine & Food Festival: Meatball Madness!
Dozens of NYC’s top chefs gathered on Sunday to turn out their best meatballs for the Meatball Madness event. A $5,000 prize was at stake, with proceeds from the event benefitting the Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength.
Here’s one sample of the deliciousness: Joey Campanaro’s meatball sliders for Little Owl. More meatballs and a video of the winner, after the jump. (more…)
Posted in food
Tagged Andrew Carmellini, beef, culture, food news, Michael White, NYC Wine & Food Festival
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Locanda Verde
It seems less surprising that Robert De Niro’s restaurant Ago failed in New York than it ever landed here at all. It had all the elements in place for universal loathing by the New York food world: unreasonably high prices, celeb-focused culture, uncaring servers, and worst of all, bad food. That may fly in LA and Miami, but in this city of 18,696 restaurants, we have better options. And P.S., no more expense accounts.
Kudos to De Niro, though, who was not afraid to make a total 180 and take this once awkward, lame-but-trying-to-be-cool spot into a restaurant that really dazzles. The makeover, by Ken Friedman and Meyer Davis, plays up the beauty of the existing dark wood and leaded glass windows but ditches the white tablecloths in favor of a more down-to-earth approach. The lamps are now (unexpectedly flattering) industrial kitchen lights, lit low and hanging closer to the tables for a feeling of intimacy in the high-ceilinged space. The tables are plain wood, and the chairs, once oversized Italian-granny-style furniture, are now blissfully unnoticeable. But the biggest turnaround is in food and service. (more…)
Posted in food, Italian, New York restaurants, restaurants, Tribeca
Tagged Andrew Carmellini, New York
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