Headliner
Brasserie Fouquet’s
Desbrosses Street in TriBeCa is not exactly the Champs-Élysées, but it’s a fairly broad boulevard. So it’s still an appropriate home base for this venerable Paris brasserie, now with a global presence. It’s managed by Groupe Barrière, whose hotels often house a Fouquet’s. Built into the Hotel Barrière Fouquet’s New York, the ground-floor brasserie is brightly elegant, done with Art Deco details, glittering chandeliers, red leather upholstery, brass trim and white tablecloths. Pierre Gagnaire, whose work at Saint-Étienne in Paris has earned him three Michelin stars, is supervising the menu. The executive chef, Bradley Stelling, who worked with Alain Ducasse and his second-in-command, Didier Elena, said that Mr. Gagnaire’s signature, typically a refreshing touch of citrus, could be found in a number of traditional dishes, even the French onion soup. Count on oysters, escargots, caviar service, lobster fricassee, chicken paillard, a salmon casserole with Champagne, and, for dessert, the signature mille-feuille and profiteroles. Sharing the hotel lobby is Par Ici Cafe, for more casual Mediterranean fare in an indoor-outdoor setting with a garden. There are also several bars throughout.
28 Desbrosses Street (Washington Street), 917-965-2610, fouquets-newyork.com.
Opening
Slava
Replacing the well-regarded bar Pegu Club, this Ukrainian restaurant, from the owners of the Tiki-style Pineapple Club in the East Village, also has a drinks focus. Here, the emphasis is on vodka, even in a borscht-based cocktail with beets and heavy cream. The chef Alex Scherbyna, who is from Ukraine, consulted on the menu.. Some of his dishes are a pickle plate, oysters, Hungarian hot wings, stuffed cabbage, chicken Kiev with parsnip purée, and steamed trout.
77 West Houston Street (second floor) (West Broadway), 929-531-9779, slavanyc.com.
Bjork Café & Bistro
The ground-floor cafe and restaurant in Scandinavia House has a new chef, name and personality. Ulrika Bengtsson, who owned Ulrika’s on the Upper East Side, is now in charge with her business partner Sabina Lindmark. Her menu, definitely Nordic, includes various herrings, shrimp, gravlax and meatballs, along with potato waffles with toppings, baked arctic char and a quinoa bowl.
58 Park Avenue (38th Street), 212-779-3587, bjorkcafe.com.
Mostrador NYC
The Argentine chef Fernando Trocca has restaurants in Buenos Aires; London; José Ignacio, Uruguay; and an outpost in Montauk, N.Y. Now, he has set up shop in Manhattan with the restaurateur Martin Pittaluga. The menu is rooted in Argentina, with specialties like alfajores cookies and medialuna pastries, and when dinner starts next month, grass-fed beef asado and milanesas. But it branches into Uruguay and Lebanon, where Mr. Trocca has worked. Mostrador means “counter” in Spanish, and the signature is a counter displaying many of the dishes. The 45-seat restaurant is in the Walker Tribeca Hotel tucked into Cortlandt Alley.
28 Cortlandt Alley (Walker Street), mostradornyc.com.
