Headliner
The Grey at Intersect by Lexus
The somewhat-improbable combination of a high-end automaker and far-flung guest chefs and restaurants that opened on West 14th Street about two years ago has brought an interesting dimension to New York’s dining scene. The latest is Mashama Bailey, the chef who owns The Grey in Savannah, Ga., with her business partner, Johno Morisano. (The Grey opened in 2014, and is named for its location in a former Greyhound bus terminal.) Chefs from restaurants in Paris, Mumbai, Buenos Aires and Santiago, Chile, have been in residence with Intersect’s chef, Nickolas Martinez, and Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, to run its kitchen. But the recent cancellation of indoor dining has finally turned the Intersect’s informal luxury toward takeout and delivery only. The Grey’s three-course menus with sides, $65 per person, plus tax, gratuity and delivery, are posted weekly on Mondays, and available Thursdays through Sundays. Its residency will continue through mid-April. At the Grey, Ms. Bailey, a Bronx native who moved with her family to Savannah in 1980, then back to New York before returning to Savannah, stitches together a personal take on Southern and soul food. This week’s nicely packaged menu features smoked catfish with rye crackers, yardbird chicken with captain sauce, and devil’s food cake. Leeks vinaigrette, red snapper and butterscotch cream will be served next week, and, the week after, there will be crab Louis, smoked lamb and a brown-butter fritter. Southern-style cocktails will also be sold. Intersect, which has a program of culinary training for formerly incarcerated youth, is donating 500 meals to health care workers. (Opens Thursday)
Opening
Penny Bridge
Remember the days of soft openings? The virus yanked the rug out, and now the formula for a restaurant’s debut is takeout and delivery. Dan Kluger’s Penny Bridge in the new JACX development, in Long Island City, Queens, is a good example. (Mr. Kluger also owns Loring Place in Greenwich Village.) The airy new industrial-style place focuses on comfort food like crispy delicata squash rings, a tuna crudo melt with lardo, chicken wings, fried chicken and vegetarian chili. (Wednesday)
28-03 Jackson Avenue (42nd Road), Long Island City, Queens, pennybridgelic.com.
Wagyu Social
An owner of Hachibei, a restaurant on East 53rd Street that specialized in Japanese unagi (eel), and some chefs have trained their focus on a different protein: premium-grade A5 Wagyu beef imported from Japan. Hachibei closed as a result of the pandemic, and the new concept is for takeout and delivery only. There are burgers, a 6-ouncer topped with foie gras, truffles, radicchio and caramelized onions, with only 10 available per day; a 5-ounce Katsu burger without the foie gras and truffles; and several made with half-and-half Japanese Wagyu and American grass-fed beef. A Wagyu roast beef bowl and Wagyu niku sushi (meat on rice) are also served for lunch and dinner, delivery and pickup Tuesdays through Fridays and dinner only on Saturdays.
238 East 53rd Street, second floor, 212-888-8003, wagyusocial.com.
Baita
The Alpine-style winter restaurant at Eataly Flatiron returned this winter, but, instead of keeping its usual rooftop perch, it’s at street level: a base lodge equipped with cozy huts for single parties warmed by solar-powered heaters and cashmere throws to buy. The menu wards off the chill with raclette over potatoes and root vegetables, melted taleggio cheese with bread and black truffles, polenta with various toppings, and an array of warm cocktails like a Negroni made with mulled wine. There’s also a dinner with an appetizer, an entree and three sides, $45 per person.
200 Fifth Avenue (23rd Street), 212-229-2560, eataly.com
