Headliner
Frenchette Bakery at the Whitney Museum
The airy space just to the right of the entrance to the Whitney Museum in the meatpacking district, which had been Danny Meyer’s Untitled, has been the purview of Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, who own Frenchette restaurant and the Frenchette Bakery in TriBeCa, since November. Framed by a multitiered plant and ceramic-filled construction by Rashid Johnson, the bakery sells baked goods like handsome loaves of fougasse, baguettes, and einkorn wheat miche. There is also a counter service menu of viennoiseries, pizzettes and sandwiches like jambon beurre, tuna Niçoise, and king oyster mushrooms with broccoli rabe and ricotta. The spacious kitchen has permitted the executive pastry chef, Michelle Palazzo, to expand her repertoire to more elaborate pastries, also being sold, like pistachio Paris-Brest and tarte au citron. The head baker is Peter Edris. This week, the bakery will become a full-service cafe with an expanded menu and table service. More substantial fare will include a warm black radish vichyssoise, tarte flambée, mushroom and Taleggio pizza, a roast beef sandwich, an omelette, rotisserie chicken salad, and duck confit with farro. The hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, later on Fridays; museum admission is not required. (Opens Wednesday.)
Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street (Washington Street), 646-666-5580, frenchettebakerywhitney.com.
Opening
Chateau ZZ’s
Major Food Group, best known for Carbone, is expanding its culinary portfolio with Mexican. That’s the cuisine served in the spacious indoor-outdoor ground floor restaurant in the restored Miami mansion, formerly Petit Douy, built in 1931 and designed as a private residence by Martin L. Hampton. It is Major Food’s eighth property in the Miami area. The building has historic designation from the City of Miami. The Mexican fare from Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi follows classic lines with some emphasis on steaks both simply grilled or prepared on a spit al pastor style, and with spicy lobster fideos and local stone crab claws as highlights. The cocktail side can rely on more than 1,000 mezcals and tequilas. The second floor of the space, now designed by Ken Fulk Inc., is private, reserved for members of ZZ’s Club, with a lounge and other amenities.
1500 Brickell Avenue (SW 15th Road), Miami, chateauzzs.com.
Ramen By Ra
Rasheeda Purdie, a chef who has created ramen kits for home cooks and has been doing ramen pop-ups in various locations, has now secured a five-seat counter in the Bowery Market, in NoHo. She specializes in asa ramen, usually meant as a breakfast dish but broadened for all-day service in her hands. She gets creative with the concept, serving ramen with toppings of bacon-egg-cheese, BLT, gravlax and steak, and, soon, chicken and waffle. Ms. Purdie switched from a career as a stylist in fashion to food and worked with Melba Wilson, JJ Johnson and Marcus Samuelsson before turning her attention to ramen.
The Bowery Market, 348 Bowery (Great Jones Street), ramenbyra.com.
Bar Nena
Do you have a little extra space in the basement or under the bed? Might as well turn it into a cocktail lounge. (It’s what’s being done everywhere.) The latest is this stone-walled underground watering hole beneath Jajaja in the West Village, with drinks based on traditional beverages that are fermented but not distilled, like pulque made from agave, tepache from corn and also pineapple, and tejuino brewed from masa. Cocktails often combine these drinks with tequila, mezcal, rum and gin. Plant-based bites include watermelon tostones, and vegetable empanadas devised by Ricky Colex of Jajaja. (Opens Thursday)
63 Carmine Street (Seventh Avenue South), barnena.com.
