Headliner
Brasserie Saint Marc
An ambitious project, four years in the making, from Karin Agstam, a model and actor who owned the restaurant Station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is ready to open. Ms. Agstam was so smitten by the arched, brick-walled East Village space that she was determined to make it a restaurant. Now, it has a spacious bar area up front and a passage along an open kitchen that leads to a pair of dining rooms, one of which features Champagnes, and a garden. Glittering chandeliers and white marble-top tables brighten the space. As for the menu, the executive chef Frederick Piccarello, an experienced hand who was once at the Sign of the Dove uptown, has gone classic French. Escargots? Rillettes? Coquilles Saint-Jacques? Frisée aux lardons? Onion soup? Duck confit? Moules frites? Steak au poivre? Ms. Agstam’s favorite bouillabaisse? They’re all there. The menu also tips its hat to the neighborhood’s Eastern European roots with borscht and pierogies, and to vegans with an Impossible Burger. (Opens Wednesday)
136 Second Avenue (St. Marks Place), 212-548-3959, brasseriesaintmarc.com.
Opening
Bumu
The latest from the chef and restaurateur Joaquin Baca is in Manhattan, not Brooklyn, where he owned Brooklyn Star after a long stretch in David Chang’s Momofuku organization. Now he and Chris Johnson, the managing partner and beverage director, have taken over the former Neta space to create an izakaya-style restaurant serving an array of Japanese foods. They include raw seafood, yaki skewers, okonomiyaki from a cast-iron skillet, plates of fried oysters with smoked yam purée, and grilled mackerel with gobo and umeboshi. (Wednesday)
61 West Eighth Street (Avenue of the Americas), 212-505-2610.
Palais by Perfect Pie
Bill Yosses, the former White House executive pastry chef, has opened his first restaurant. It’s in the space once occupied by Le Lavandou, the restaurant owned by the French chef Jean-Jacques Rachou, who is helping Mr. Yosses with the menu. The restaurant will serve French bistro fare with American items, such as roasted duck breast with lavender and peppercorns, red snapper with artichoke barigoule, a burger, a flatbread pizza and Mr. Yosses’ pies. John Fanning, the manager and a New York restaurant veteran, worked with the chef on a selection of mocktails (the liquor license is pending). John Wu and Mr. Yosses’ husband, Charlie Fabella Jr., are partners. A display of pies and other items for sale is near the entrance to the restaurant.
134 East 61st Street, 212-410-3262, perfectpie.com.
Ten Hope
Do you recall Perilla and Kin Shop, Harold Dieterle’s Southeast Asian places? Now Mr. Dieterle is the consulting chef at this new charmer with a gracious entry, a garden patio and about 100 seats. His food is contemporary and somewhat Mediterranean. Think crisp lamb ribs, halloumi cheese in a salad, spice-roasted carrots, seared scallops with romesco sauce, and chicken cooked under a brick. His kofta burger is garnished with kasseri cheese and tzatziki. (Thursday)
10 Hope Street (Roebling Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 347-916-0951, tenhopebk.com.
Three Times
Shi bing tong — a fried snack of pork, squid, tofu, noodles and vegetables wrapped in pastry — is from Taizhou, a city on the East China Sea, northeast of Hong Kong. Now, Jennifer Yang, a chef who specializes in preparing it, is introducing the snack to New York at two counter-service restaurants owned by Jason Wei: She makes a vegan version and also serves buns, dumplings and noodle dishes.
90 Clinton Street (Delancey Street), 646-609-6324; 818 Broadway (12th Street), 646-609-3040, 3times.com.
Ivy Lane
The latest from Abraham Merchant, in the former Jade Sixty space with more than 160 seats on three levels, has an ivy-covered facade to match its name. The restaurant has a modern American menu with French and Asian touches from the chef Sung Park. (Wednesday)
116 East 60th Street, ivylanenyc.com.
Flipper’s New York
The first American branch of a popular Japanese chain specializing in soufflé pancakes has opened to long lines. But the wait to get a seat in the airy upstairs dining room was matched by the time it took for my order to arrive: a good 40 minutes or so. The pancakes are a delicious but ephemeral Instagrammable treat; they deflate at the touch of a fork. The rest of the menu, put together mainly for the American market, consists of ordinary pancakes and waffles with sweet and savory toppings.
337 West Broadway (Grand Street), 917-265-8292, flippersus.com.
Les Halles D’Anthony Bourdain
In a ceremony on Friday at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., the school’s president, Tim Ryan, will dedicate the main hall of the main building on campus to the memory of Anthony Bourdain, an alumnus of the school. The name is a reference to the Manhattan restaurant, Les Halles, where Mr. Bourdain once worked.
Reopening
Aquavit
After months of renovations, this long-lived Midtown Scandinavian restaurant, now with two Michelin stars, is reopening. Its bar has been turned into a dining area, with backlit walnut panels and a new, somewhat shorter bar to permit more tables. There’s also a more extensive food menu, including American and Nordic items — like crab fritters, fries with truffle aioli, steak tartare, gravlax, a herring trio and pork schnitzel — for a full meal, not just bar snacks. The main dining room has also been redone with curved, deep teal banquettes and a glass-walled open kitchen for the chef, Emma Bengtsson. There, diners can choose between à la carte and tasting menus. (Wednesday)
65 East 55th Street, 212-307-7311, aquavit.org.
Chefs on the Move
Kazushige Suzuki
Mr. Suzuki, 30, has been named the head sushi chef at Sushi Ginza Onodera in Midtown. He’ll maintain its Edomae tradition, which features fish that’s often cured, aged and marinated. At the same time, he is adding inventive touches like tempura of uni, his version of fish and chips with long-tail red snapper, fried lotus root and sweet potatoes.
Jordan Frosolone
Mr. Frosolone has left 10 Corso Como, a seaport district restaurant named for the branch of the Milan-based store it’s located in. He plans to take time off, will travel to Italy and has some new projects for the future.
Steven Shockley
A native of Cincinnati, Mr. Shockley, who has worked in his hometown, in Chicago and in Raleigh, N.C., is the new chef de cuisine at Ruffian in the East Village.
Awards
Aldo Sohm
On Monday night in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France, Mr. Sohm, the head sommelier at Le Bernardin in New York, was named the best sommelier of Les Grandes Tables du Monde, an organization founded in 1954 by a group of French restaurateurs. This year’s best restaurateur was Birgit Reitbauer of Steirereck in Vienna, and the best pastry chef was François Perret of La Table de L’Espadon in Paris.
Looking Ahead
Ju Qi
Next year, New Yorkers will be able to sample the often-unusual fare at this Beijing-based chain, with 20 locations in China and one in Sydney, Australia. Mashed potatoes molded in the shape of a rabbit is a specialty. (China is the world’s biggest potato grower, though you rarely see spuds on Chinese menus here.) Peking duck, bing pancakes, black fried rice and dishes that supposedly reflect the cooking of old Beijing are also available. It will occupy more than 6,000 square feet in the Tangram complex being completed in Flushing, Queens.
133-36 37th Avenue (College Point Boulevard), Flushing, Queens.
