Headliner
Pomona
Michael Vignola, who was the original executive chef at Henry at Life Hotel, and Rachid Abdelouahad, who was director of operations at Strip House and Blue Water Grill, among others, have joined forces to move into the underground space that was the clubby Beautique for a few years. The Midtown location was also at one point Shezan, a chic Indian restaurant designed by the architect Charles Gwathmey. There’s no trace of it in Jason Henning’s design, which includes butterscotch leather banquettes, polished wood in amber tones, lanternlike lights and several archways. This time around, there will be a tiny lounge area on the street level. Downstairs, there’s a bar, main dining room, a smaller room with tile flooring, and an even smaller private room. To the rear, past the bar and through the kitchen, is a lounge. Mr. Vignola is serving inventive American fare like foie gras sliders, potato and mackerel terrine, slow-cooked halibut, rib-eye for two cooked two ways, and a duck burger. The restaurant is named for a Roman goddess of abundance. (Opens Wednesday)
8 West 58th Street, 212-753-1200, pomonanyc.com.
Opening
Ruby’s Vintage Harlem
This cocktail and wine bar serving small plates takes its name from its location. Brian Washington-Palmer, a restaurateur, and Nikoa Evans-Hendricks, an expert in commercial development, discovered that the actress Ruby Dee had once lived in the building. What they have created is very now, especially when it comes to small plates like an updated Reuben sandwich and drinks made with miso syrup and kale juice, with décor firmly rooted in the midcentury-modern aesthetic.
2340 Seventh Avenue (137th Street), 212-234-1833, rubysvintageharlem.com.
Princi
Rocco Princi’s Milanese bakery, in which Starbucks has invested and which now supplies food at high-end Starbucks Reserve Roastery locations, is opening a bakery and cafe in New York. There are Princi locations in Chicago and Seattle, as well as one in London and five in Milan. The New York store is airy, with many windows and filled with enticing displays — “a visual menu,” as a spokeswoman put it. A long counter holds pastries like croissants (cornetti), sandwiches, pizza by the slice, soups and baked dishes like lasagna and egg preparations, and an enticing array of cakes and tarts. Behind it is high shelving loaded with assorted breads sold by the loaf. A bar serving coffee, beer and wine is adjacent to it. A high communal table and several counters provide elbow room for eating. (Thursday)
1633 Broadway (51st Street), princi.com.
Rise Brewing Co.
Having opened pop-up cafes in apparel and luggage shops, this coffee company known for its frothy nitro (nitrogen-infused) cold brew and flavored lattes is opening a brick-and-mortar flagship.
79 Delancey Street (Allen Street), 646-400-0410, risebrewingco.com.
Nai Tapas Bar
The chef and owner, Ruben Rodriguez, has moved his eight-year-old tapas bar to a larger space nearby, on two floors. His original place was inspired by the cooking of his mother, Ana Maria Gonzalez Arias, who owned a restaurant in Spain. (In the dialect of the family’s native Galicia, nai means mother.) The new restaurant divides the tapas into two categories: traditional, like patatas bravas or spicy potatoes, and modern, like oxtail toast with smoked trout and black aioli.
85 Second Avenue (Fifth Street), 212-677-1030, naitapas.nyc.
Closed
The Smoke Joint
The Fort Greene, Brooklyn, barbecue spot, which opened in 2006, has closed. It was a pioneer then, but now the owners, Craig Samuel and Ben Grossman, feel there’s too much barbecue in the area. They plan to reopen it in the Catskills next spring. In its place, they plan a branch of Peaches HotHouse, their American restaurant in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, that specializes in fried chicken. They’ve also added Damian Laverty-McDowell, originally a cook at the Smoke Joint, as a partner.
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