Blue Bird, in the East Village, Goes All

Jul 21, 2023

Advertisement

Supported by

A picnic kit from Shake Shack, a branch of Fieldtrip opens in Morningside Heights and more restaurant news.

By Florence Fabricant

Jon Howard, the bar and hospitality director for Sayless Hospitality, is taking a seasonal approach to cocktails at this new bar and bistro on the edge of the East Village. Fruits and vegetables, including red and green tomatoes, peaches, mushrooms, cucumbers, carrots, onions and rhubarb figure into his culinary cocktail creations. Red heirloom tomatoes are combined with fino sherry, bianco vermouth and basil oil for the Heirloom Tomato cocktail; and cucumbers meet gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon and Lillet for the Cucumber cocktail. Mr. Howard has returned to New York after eight years doing bar work in Nashville. French aperitifs, after-dinner drinks and a zero-proof quaff made with watermelon are also on the drinks list, along with a limited choice of red, white and sparkling wines, all natural. Traditional French fare like escargots, steak tartare, salade Lyonnaise, steak frites and steak au poivre share the menu with fritto misto, beet carpaccio and lobster spaghetti. The restaurant is on two levels, with some French touches in the décor.

106 Third Avenue (13th Street), 212-254-3825, bluebird-nyc.com.

Like the restaurants that have become hosts to satellite pizzerias, Sami & Susu, a Mediterranean wine bar on the Lower East Side, has tucked a sandwich shop into the premises. A brief menu of cauliflower, chicken or lamb kebab in pitas, with garnishes like ras el hanout, tahini, harissa and charred vegetables; and bowls of salad or lamb neck over rice, are served and sold to-go Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m., and to be expanded.

190 Orchard Street (East Houston Street), 646-559-2856, pitashopnyc.com.

Timed alongside the introduction of its veggie burger made with mushrooms, sweet potatoes, carrots, farro and quinoa, Shake Shack is offering nicely fitted wicker picnic baskets for pickup this weekend. Along with two Veggie Shacks (burgers on buns piled with garnishes, including real American cheese that can be omitted), two orders of fries, a pint of nondairy chocolate frozen custard and two lemonades, the basket also contains a blanket, sunscreen, a sturdy reusable insulated ice cream container, a Frisbee, playing cards, bamboo dishes and utensils, cloth napkins and a Bluetooth speaker, all for $60. Orders can be placed starting Tuesday for pickup on Saturday and Sunday, at locations in Madison Square Park, in Manhattan; Piedmont Park, in Atlanta; Chicago Athletic Association, in Chicago; Central West End, in St. Louis; Brackenridge Park, in San Antonio; Dallas Uptown, in Dallas; Edgewater, in Denver; Santa Monica, near Los Angeles; Cow Hollow, in San Francisco; and The Wharf in Washington, D.C.

shakeshack.com/blog.

Julian Medina, best known for his Toloache restaurants in Manhattan and El Fish Marisqueria on the Upper West Side, has added a Southampton, N.Y., restaurant to his portfolio. The Mexican menu puts a spotlight on local ingredients, including corn, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, carrots and Chinese broccoli, from farms like Sang Lee Farms on the North Fork. He’s also supplying the restaurant with zucchini flowers and assorted chiles that he’s growing in his garden in Quogue. Duck, clams and fluke also make an appearance, and a few local wines and some from Mexico dot the drinks list. Mr. Medina plans to keep the restaurant open year-round.

10 Windmill Lane (Hill Street), Southampton, N.Y., 631-377-3050, elveranony.com.

Jesse Matsuoka and his partners in Sen and K Pasa in Sag Harbor were planning a branch of K Pasa, their Mexican restaurant, in a former art gallery in a passageway off East Hampton’s Reutershan parking lot. They have shifted gears and decided to serve Japanese cuisine. (There’s a Mexican restaurant, the Blue Parrot, just steps away.) In addition to sushi, the new spot will also feature ramen. (Opens Friday)

37 Newtown Lane (Reutershan Parking Lot), East Hampton, N.Y. 631-527-7926, kumiso.com

An elaborate new branch, the eighth location, for this family-owned Cantonese restaurant group, opens in the Financial District. The dim sum service begins at 8 a.m.

123 William Street (Fulton Street), 212-901-9760, dimsumpalace.com.

JJ Johnson’s casual chain featuring rice bowls, in Harlem and Rockefeller Center, has added a Morningside Heights outpost.

2913 Broadway (West 114th Street), 212-381-1252, fieldtripnyc.com.

The original Chambers Street location for the appetizing shop that has grown to include six more branches has moved to larger premises across the street. It has also added a pizza bagel, burgers, hot dogs, omelets and gelato to its menu.

143 Chambers Street (West Broadway), 212-608-5844, zuckersbagels.com.

A new pub by Jack McGarry, the managing partner of the Dead Rabbit, and his associates will open in the fall in the Moynihan Train Hall. It has been conceived as a template for branches in other transit hubs, including airports, for Irish beers, spirits and Irish coffee. It will not serve food, but visitors will be able to bring food purchased from elsewhere in the Train Hall to eat with a drink. The name means leaving without saying goodbye (like French leave, or as the French would say, “filer à l’anglaise,” which means sneak out like the English). But the owners hope it will prove just the opposite.

Moynihan Train Hall, 421 Eighth Avenue (33rd Street).

This elegant, high-end omakase sushi restaurant, an import from Tokyo that opened in 2016, will close on Aug. 19.The company is looking for “alternative venues and different styles of serving sushi,” said Yoko Yamaguchi, the general manager, in a statement.

461 Fifth Avenue (40th Street), 212-390-0925, sushiginzaonoderanewyork.com.

This former chef de cuisine at Le Coucou is now the executive chef at LaLou, in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. His French-style food, like a summery vol-au-vent with tomatoes, and rib-eye for two au poivre, are designed to pair with the many wines on the restaurant’s list.

The chef and an owner of Le Bernardin has stepped away from his role as a partner in L’Ami Pierre, a French cafe and bakery run by Pierre-Antoine Raberin that opened last year nearby. Mr. Ripert cited the demands of running a Michelin three-star (and a New York Times four-star) restaurant as the reason for his amicable departure.

Previously a chef de cuisine at Troutbeck, a historic estate in Amenia, N.Y., in the Hudson Valley that was frequented by many writers over the years, Mr. Gilberti is returning as executive chef. He worked there before a stint in San Francisco, notably as chef de cuisine at SPQR. A native of Carmel, N.Y., he is familiar with the region and its bounty.

The latest Michelin Guide for California has been published, with six new one-star restaurants: Aphotic and Nari in San Francisco, Auro in Calistoga, Chez Noir in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Heritage in Long Beach and Valle in Oceanside.

Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest. Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.

Florence Fabricant is a food and wine writer. She writes the weekly Front Burner and Off the Menu columns, as well as the Pairings column, which appears alongside the monthly wine reviews. She has also written 12 cookbooks. More about Florence Fabricant

Advertisement