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Amarena
Against the odds, chef Julian Medina is optimistic when it comes to the business of restaurant ownership. Just in the past year it has opened three and is about to add another for a total of 12 at various levels of service and price. The newest, opening later this week, is his first not rooted in his native Mexico or even Cuba, like his Cuban-style diner, Coppelia. It’s Italian. “My culinary background is French, my restaurants are Mexican, but there’s a place in my heart for Italian,” he said. “I’m ready to cook my own interpretation.” His ode to Italy, named after the Italian sour cherry, is reminiscent of Roman cooking and that of the coastal regions. She has moved into the Upper East Side mansion space occupied by Simone until last year. But unlike its garden-level predecessor, its 60-seat restaurant will span two floors and add a bar to the near-summer environment with light colors accented with greenery downstairs. Upstairs, a more opulent room is done in a ruby palette. Both locations will offer the same menu. Louis Skibar, a frequent collaborator, is a co-owner. Initially, the restaurant will serve dinner with various items such as arancini. grilled clams with salsa verde; bucatini carbonara with duck guanciale and duck eggs. pappardella with Sunday sauce and veal cheeks. and the suckling piglet agrodolce. Soon, there will be breakfast paninis and classic Italian pastries like sfogliatelle and lunch. The wine list is entirely Italian.
(Opens Thursday) 151 East 82nd Street, 212-837-1841, amarenyc.com.
Opening
Demonstration
There’s a subversive attitude to this newcomer from chef Quang Nguyen and wine director Jacob Nass, who both worked at Wildair and partnered with Ian Henderson-Charnow, who co-owns Greenberg’s Bagels in Bedford-Stuyvesant. in Brooklyn. Named after the nearby Patera Demo Square, it is characterized as French and Mediterranean, but it breaks the rules. Mr. Nguyen applies a tonnato treatment to beef tongue, sears crab with café de Paris butter usually reserved for steak, and dresses lobster in trendy au poivre sauce, another steak option. Mr. Nash’s wine selections are often natural and strange, from what he calls renegade producers. Even the decor in the 40-seat spot is provocative, evoking the punk-rock era and the legendary Max’s Kansas City, especially in the jazzy back dining room, which is open in the evening. A cafe a day will sell coffee and cookies. Then there are the bagels, from a branch of Greenberg’s that occupies a nearby storefront.
34 Carmine Street (Bleecker Street), instagram.com/demo.nyc.
Class in the 38th
Relaxing the ground rules for typical Japanese dishes is the mission of chef Alexander Lee, partner at Southeast Asian restaurant Nemesis in the Flatiron District and Antidote in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It brings touches of luxury to the table in a gilded setting with vintage accents and the intimate space has an open kitchen. Small plate entrees include Hokkaido scallops with uni, grilled oysters with uni butter, chawanmushi with snow crab, and two types of Wagyu combined in tartar with duxelle truffles and foie gras. Main courses feature grilled heritage chicken with oyster mushrooms and Wagyu zabuton steak (Denver cut). Among the wines, there are nine stills and two sparklings for less than $60.
55 West 38th Street, 929-292-0691, classon38th.com.
Atelier Jolie
Angelina Jolie opened this NoHo fashion and art workshop (by appointment) with a coffee shop (no appointments) run by Eat Offbeat, a Chelsea Market-based organization that employs refugees. The site was formerly the studio and home of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
57 Great Jones Street (Bowery), atelierjolie.com.