Headliner
Taco Mix FonteNova
Jorge Sanchez, the Puebla, Mexico, native behind the Taco Mix taquerias in East Harlem, has opened his first sit-down location in Riverdale, in the Bronx. (He kept the previous restaurant’s name, FonteNova, out front.) For now, the brick-walled dining room with a stretch of bar is not serving guests indoors, but there are a few tables out front and a tidy little garden in back. Tacos al pastor, cemitas and tortas, like those served at Mr. Sanchez’s taquerias, anchor the menu, and his chef, Juan Gomez, is planning to prepare clams casino, shrimp in chipotle sauce, penne in a creamy marinara sauce with seafood, and stuffed chicken breast for a menu with Mexican and Italian seafood.
216 West 242nd Street (Broadway), Riverdale, Bronx, 917-651-0504, tacomix.co.
Opening
Café Salmagundi
This Korean-American restaurant is from the team behind Osamil, in Koreatown. Pork belly confit with “burnt” sunchoke purée, and branzino with a kimchi vinaigrette, will be served. The restaurant is named after a satirical periodical published by the writer Washington Irving. (The term also refers to a mixed meat and vegetable dish, and is the name of an art club on Fifth Avenue at 11th Street.) A lovely tented, plant-ringed dining area in the street is what’s opening for now. (Opens Wednesday)
51 Irving Place (17th Street), 212-510-8383, salmagundi.com.
Festivál
Andrew Maturana, the chef, and Tyler Hollinger, the manager, own this cocktail cafe, where nearby farms provide seasonal ingredients for drinks and food. Inside, the sophisticated setting in blue, gray and gold waits for indoor dining to be allowed, but for now there are 40 outdoor seats.
1155 Second Avenue (60th Street), 646-398-9686, festivalcafenyc.com.
Tong
Two chefs from the Isan region of northern Thailand, Sunisa Nitmai and Chetkangwan Thipruetree, are presenting tastes from across their native country. Small plates, like spicy beef tartare, fried chicken thighs, well-seasoned oysters, and crispy rice with fermented sausage, are on the menu. Guests dine outdoors for now, and can buy alcohol at a nearby shop until the restaurant’s liquor license is approved.
321 Starr Street (Cypress Avenue), Bushwick, Brooklyn, 718-366-0586, tongbrooklyn.com.
Sush1
Sushi at a buck per piece is available for pickup and delivery only at this new Chelsea spot. It’s an extension of a chain that started three years ago in Brazil, before jumping to Mexico City. You can stick with set assortments or devise your own from a modest menu of basic nigiri, sashimi and rolls. Hand rolls are $4 each, and there are also fried rice bowls (yakimeshi) and teriyaki.
555 Avenue of the Americas (16th Street), 917-965-2201, sush1nyc.com.
Tempura Matsui and Sushi Ryusei
Suffering from the pandemic slowdown, two restaurants near each other have joined forces to serve the food of both on the same menu. Tempura Matsui’s chef, Kiyoshi Chikano, has created some new items, including sliced tempura over rice, and tempura chirashi, and also serves soba noodles from the noodle expert Koichi Endo. Sushi Ryusei’s chef and an owner, Masato Oyama, formerly of Sushi of Gari, provides a long list of seafood options by the piece or as omakase. Sushi Ryusei has outdoor seating, and offers takeout and delivery. Tempura Matsui offers pickup, and will begin outdoor seating on Wednesday.
Tempura Matsui, 222 East 39th Street, 212-986-8885, tempuramatsui.com. Sushi Ryusei, 216 East 39th Street, 212-983-8880, sushiryusei.com.
Tzarevna
This Lower East Side spot, which opened last year, was serving a modern take on Russian food. Now it will start to feature more classic Russian fare like borscht, khachapuri and beef stroganoff. There’s outdoor seating. (Wednesday)
154 Orchard Street (Stanton Street), 917-388-2814, tzarevna.nyc.
Drift In
This is the latest from Summer Ops, a company that creates, builds and runs waterfront restaurants in New York, including Grand Banks and Island Oyster, and has one in New Orleans. They specialize in seafood, and the executive chef, Kerry Heffernan, oversees the food for all locations. This new venture has 100 seats outdoors for now, and will be adding another 30.
Pier 45 (West 10th Street), driftin.nyc.
Frenchette and Estela at Rockefeller Center
Picnics by Frenchette and Estela are now available at the Rink, a centerpiece of Rockefeller Center that allows for ice skating in winter. Frenchette, which will be serving on Wednesdays and Thursdays, will serve corn vichyssoise, a terrine, lobster salad, cold leg of lamb and assorted vegetables and desserts. Estela’s dinner, available on Fridays and Saturdays, features snacks and spreads and a seafood tower. Each picnic is $125 per person. Shaded, well-spaced tables are available, and the dinners, starting at 5 p.m., must be booked in advance. Next year, Frenchette is scheduled to open a full-service restaurant in the former Brasserie Ruhlmann space nearby. (Thursday)
The Rink at Rockefeller Center, rockefellercenter.com.
Red Door Grill
This branch of a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., restaurant is a newcomer to East Hampton, with a vast menu of Japanese, Thai and Chinese dishes. Worth noting are the fortune cookies with messages exhorting participation in the census. Examples: “Don’t be left out. You matter. Census 2020.” “You are not a bot. Be Counted. Census 2020.” “Do it for your community. 2020 Census.” “Eat me. Then be counted. Take the 2020 Census.”
352 Montauk Highway, Wainscott, N.Y., 631-658-9898, rdgrill.com.
Looking Ahead
Revolution Hospitality
Ravi DeRossi confessed to having too much time on his hands during the pandemic. The result? He has restructured his 16-year-old East Village dining and drinking empire, giving it this new name and making changes in several of his restaurants. “I went plant-based in all my restaurants five years ago, and it’s time for a name to reflect that we’ve become more mission-driven,” he said. He closed Mother of Pearl, Night Music and Honeybees. He is expanding his popular bar Amor y Amargo, and plans for it to share an expanded space at 95 Avenue A (Sixth Street), with a shop selling bar equipment and ingredients, to open in about a week. A new Filipino restaurant, Saramsam, will soon replace Night Music, which was Indian. Cadence, serving soul-food bar bites, will take over the space of Desnuda, a ceviche bar, which has closed. It will make its debut in a few weeks, depending on the pandemic restrictions. Mr. DeRossi remains a partner in Death & Co., a chain of bars in several cities that is not part of his hospitality group.
