Headliner
Nora Thai
Lately, when it comes to Thai food in New York, the spotlight has been on the spice-fueled cuisine of the Isan region, in the northeast. But the restaurateur Kittigron Lertpanaruk, also known as Khun Oh, is from the south, where curries dominate, and he feels it’s time to give that part of Thailand its due. His new restaurant, decorated with red hanging lamps, gilded Buddhist statues, temple bells and carved wood panels, features a long list of curries. They include cua kreang, a dry curry; gaeng kua, a black pepper curry; and tiplah, a salted fish paste curry. But Mr. Lertpanaruk, who founded the chain of Asian restaurants called Spice and who recently became a partner in Arun’s, a highly regarded Thai restaurant in Chicago, also knows what’s popular, so the menu has dishes like crispy spring rolls, tom yum soup, pad Thai, green papaya salad, satays and mango salmon.
176 North Ninth Street (Bedford Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-302-1499, norathainyc.com.
Opening
Serra Fiorita by Birreria
The rooftop restaurant at Eataly NYC Flatiron has undergone its seasonal makeover. This spring, and continuing until fall, it’s a fantasy of blossoms, bedecked in flowers real and fake. The menu now features an array of spritzes, along with porchetta-stuffed pig.
Eataly, 200 Fifth Avenue (23rd Street), 212-937-8910, eataly.com.
Grimaldi’s Pizzeria
On Jan. 15, the Dumbo, Brooklyn, location of the famous coal-oven pizzeria closed for renovation and a change of ownership. It’s now about to reopen, with two floors of tables seating 100 in all, and an open kitchen, as part of the Grimaldi’s chain of 43 pizzerias, based in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Grimaldi’s name and ownership have been repackaged more than once, and despite the company’s attempt to drape it in history, the Dumbo location, in a 19th-century bank building, became a Grimaldi’s only in 2011. The original Grimaldi’s, now Juliana’s, is next door, and is still owned by its founder, Patsy Grimaldi. He has nothing to do with the bank-building location, nor with the national chain, and has only a tenuous connection to another Grimaldi’s group in Hoboken, N.J. (Opens Friday)
One Front Street (Old Fulton Street), Dumbo, Brooklyn, grimaldispizzeria.com.
Wall Street Grill
This kosher steakhouse featuring grilled veal chops and rib-eye chops, among other cuts of steak, also showcases specialty items like beef Wellington, Delmonico steak and Châteaubriand on a rotating basis. Raw bar items like sake-cured king salmon and hamachi carpaccio, as well as a panoply of sushi rolls (finfish, no shellfish), are served as starters. Roasted bone marrow with oxtail confit and duck dumplings are also on the menu devised by the executive chef, Joseph Paulino. Currently, the restaurant serves only dinner Sundays through Thursdays, but will begin serving lunch late next month.
128 Pearl Street (Wall Street), 212-635-5757, wallstreetgrill.com.
Looking Ahead
Tarrytown House
Dale Talde is starting over. The chef and restaurateur’s places in Brooklyn and Manhattan have closed or are closing. (He is still involved in Talde and Miss Wong’s in Jersey City.) He has also shed his former partners in the Three Kings Restaurant Group, now defunct, and formed a new company, Food Crush Hospitality, with his wife, Agnes Talde. Their debut project, to open this summer, is an Asian-style restaurant in Tarrytown House, a hotel in a historic Westchester mansion overlooking the Hudson River. Mr. Talde will also handle food for the pool area and room service. He said they were looking for a project in Manhattan.
49 East Sunnyside Lane (Broadway), Tarrytown, N.Y., tarrytownhouseestate.com.
Insa
Meishan is a critically endangered heritage breed of pig. To showcase it and raise money for the Livestock Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that helps protect rare breeds, Insa will serve a six-course Korean-style dinner using Meishan pork in every dish, including a dessert of soft-serve garnished with black sesame chicharróns. Isabella Rossellini, a supporter of the organization, will speak.
$85, 6:30 p.m. April 9, Insa, 328 Douglass Street (Fourth Avenue), Gowanus, Brooklyn, 718-855-2620, insabrooklyn.com/specials.
