Headliner
FieldTrip
Rice is the feature at the chef JJ Johnson’s entry into the counter-service restaurant world. Heirloom rices, like Chinese black and Carolina Gold, along with sticky Laotian rice, basmati and Texas brown, make up the bases for bowls. Salmon or crispy chicken, among the choices, can be added, along with greens, toppings and sauces. Salads, bao buns and yucca puffs are also served in the roomy storefront. For dessert, the chef uses rice milk in his hibiscus-raspberry swirl soft serve. Mr. Johnson, who runs the kitchen at Henry at Life Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, focused on rice because he felt that Americans do not appreciate it and often do not even know how to prepare it. “Rice is one of the most disrespected ingredients in the world,” he said. Considering all the noodle and ramen shops around the city, he thought it was time to give rice its due, and decided to open this spot in Harlem. It has an open kitchen and seats in front and back. (Opens Wednesday)
109 Lenox Avenue (116th Street), 917-639-3919, fieldtripnyc.com.
Opening
Redeye Grill
A small fire a little more than a year ago led to the closing of this popular American brasserie across from Carnegie Hall. After some renovations, it may now be the only brasserie with its own bistro, a new enclave in the restaurant called 888 Café and Bar. There is an all-day menu of comfort food, including tapas-style seafood dishes. The sprawling main dining room with its artist-decorated columns has more artwork now, including sculptures by Shelly Fireman, who owns and runs Fireman Hospitality Group, the parent company. Seafood, including sushi, still dominates the menu; items like artichoke lasagna and stone crabs, available all year, have been added. (Thursday)
890 Seventh Avenue (56th Street), 212-541-9000, redeyegrill.com.
BLVD Bistro
Originally at Lenox Avenue and 122nd Street, Carlos and Markisha Swepson’s venue for home-style Southern cooking, especially for brunch, has moved into what was Marcus Samuelsson’s Streetbird Rotisserie, at 116th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Mr. Swepson, a native of Natchez, Miss., is known for his ethereal buttermilk biscuits, which are served all day. There’s a wraparound bar, red booths and, new to this location, a chef’s table. (Wednesday)
2149 Frederick Douglass Boulevard (116th Street), 212-678-6200, boulevardbistrony.com.
Kichin
Despite little detours likesourdough bread with anchovy butter, the menu at this new Korean spot is fairly traditional, offering a chrysanthemum salad, japchae noodles, pork belly with perilla and sunflower ssamjang.
1264 Myrtle Avenue (Cedar Street), Bushwick, Brooklyn, 347-405-8948, kichin.nyc.
Côte Médi
Earlier this summer, Terrance Brennan, the chef who owned the long-gone Picholine near Lincoln Center, was briefly at a seafood restaurant, Blu Mar, in Southampton, N.Y. He has left. From Wednesday through Sept. 28, he will be in residence at Chefs Club. His Mediterranean seafood menu can be ordered in three or seven courses ($58 and $125). There will also be a weekly dinner party for up to 30 guests at a communal table in a separate room ($125). (Wednesday)
Chefs Club New York, 275 Mulberry Street (Houston Street), 212-941-1100, chefsclub.com.
Café Oled
LG Electronics and the Pantone Color Institute have created this weekend-long pop-up cafe to showcase color. They’ve enlisted Amirah Kassem of Flour Shop in SoHo, who is known for her cakes and other confections in vibrant hues, to provide the baked goods. Colorful lattes will also be served. (Friday through Sunday)
386 West Broadway (Spring Street), no phone, lgusa.com/cafeoled.
Baodega
An all-day Chinese restaurant, with an emphasis on dumplings, noodle soups and dry pot dishes served family style, has the chef Kenny Yie, a Shanghai native, in the kitchen. His partners in this venture are Kopi Trading Co., an Asian coffee company, and Salil Mehta, who owns Laut.
7 West 20th Street.
