Headliner
Kung Fu Tea & TKK Fried Chicken
This new eat-in, take-out spot is a Taiwanese doubleheader. Kung Fu Tea, a Taiwanese-style bubble tea company that started in 2010 in Flushing, Queens, and now has 200 outlets in 30 states, has joined forces with TKK Fried Chicken, a chain founded in 1974 in Taiwan. The Taiwanese recipe called “original” on the menu is crisp and moderately spiced. There is also a milder version and, for the American market, a crisper, more forcefully seasoned one. How is this fried chicken different from the Korean variety found all over New York? “Taiwanese fried chicken is first marinated for 24 hours to add flavor,” said Steven Luw, the general operating manager. “Then it gets a flour breading and is fried once. Korean fried chicken is usually dipped in batter and fried twice.” The company, which will count this location as its first American restaurant in addition to the 68 branches it has in Taiwan and Shanghai, is also offering items that are not on the menu in Asia, including curly fries, a fried chicken sandwich, chunky coleslaw, Wisconsin-style cheese curds, biscuits and seared shishito peppers. The bubble tea partnership provides many colorful teas with optional toppings like red beans and crushed Oreos, served at varying sweetness, iced to hot. Beer and wine are also served. The bright space has tables in front and back separated by an open kitchen and ordering counter. It took but a few minutes during a recent trial period for this place to become a canteen for nearby Baruch College students. (Opens Friday)
115 East 23rd Street, tkkusa.com.
Opening
Oxalis
The list of boutique restaurants doing serious cooking in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, keeps growing. James was the pioneer, followed by Olmsted and Faun, and now there’s this one to take it up a notch with a five-course tasting menu from Nico Russell, a chef who worked at Mirazur on the French Riviera and Restaurant Daniel in New York. Back in 2016, Mr. Russell ran a series of more than 30 sold-out pop-up dinners around the city, under the umbrella name Oxalis. Now his concept has found a permanent home, with Piper Kristensen, formerly at the Booker and Dax lab, in charge of creative cocktails and natural-style wines. Dishes might include squash with burrata and flaxseed, cod with roasted potato and sorrel, and duck with sweet potato, fig and yogurt. There is a pastry station at the entrance, followed by a path along the open kitchen to the dining room, which seats 32. Another 32 seats are on an enclosed back patio, where an à la carte menu is available. (Wednesday)
791 Washington Avenue (Lincoln Place), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, 347-627-8298, oxalisnyc.com.
Snowday in Brooklyn
This inviting seasonal pop-up, running through Feb. 28 from 6:30 p.m., will feature drinks like a spiced pear margarita, a winter-spiced pineapple daiquiri, and a smoked rum and sherry version of eggnog with honeynut squash. There will be tableside raclette service and a stroopwafel bar. (Friday)
Sunday in Brooklyn, 348 Wythe Avenue (South Second Street), Williamsburg, 347-222-6722, snowdayinbrooklyn.com.
La Conca del Sogno at Chefs Club
Escaping to the Amalfi Coast might be the ideal antidote to December’s deep freeze. From Dec. 3 through Jan. 1, Luca Fedele, the chef of La Conca del Sogno, a 60-year-old restaurant overlooking Nerano Bay, a stunning inlet between Sorrento and Amalfi, will be in the kitchen at Chefs Club. He will prepare bright fried zucchini blossoms, ricotta-filled ravioli with seafood sauce, mussels with cherry tomatoes and linguine, and veal scaloppine with lemon, for à la carte and tasting menus.
275 Mulberry Street (Jersey Street), 212-941-1100, chefsclub.com.
Joe’s Steam Rice Roll
Delicate, slippery Cantonese rice flour crepes filled with beef, pork or shrimp, then rolled, steamed and dusted with sesame seeds are a street-food specialty at Joe Rong’s popular storefront in Flushing, Queens. He has opened a branch in Chinatown. Next year, he plans to open one at 36 St. Marks Place in the East Village.
Canal Street Market, 261 Canal Street (Lafayette Street), 646-694-1655, canalstreet.market.
Bar 314
Pizza dough is baked into rolls to make pucce (singular is puccia), sandwiches from Puglia in Southern Italy. They’re the signature of this new Morningside Heights spot owned by Andrew LoPresto, who also owns Babbalucci in Harlem, and Bruno Molfetta. Meats, cheeses and the like can be the filling. Pizza, salads, pastas and other dishes are also served.
1260 Amsterdam Avenue (122nd Street), 646-682-7645, bar314nyc.com.
Devoción
This Manhattan branch is more compact than the Colombian coffee company’s two airy, spacious cafes in Brooklyn. But the look, with natural light, comfortable upholstered furniture and greenery, is similar. The company’s coffee-based beverages are also made from beans sent directly from small farms in the Colombian countryside, via Bogotá, to the roaster in Williamsburg.
25 East 20th Street, no phone, devocion.com.
Artisans’ Gate
Peter Xenopoulos, who owns the Pax Cafes and Café Europas in many locations, has turned one of those Europas into a nicely tailored American restaurant with an eye on local suppliers. He named it for a nearby entrance to Central Park. The chef is Marko Ristovic.
205 West 57th Street, 212-977-4030, artisansgatenyc.com.
Princi Bakery
This Italian import, in which Starbucks has invested, was supposed to have opened more than a month ago. The wait is now over. (Wednesday)
633 Broadway (51st Street).
Looking Ahead
Feroce
Early next year, Francesco Panella, an owner of Antica Pesa in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, an offshoot of a restaurant by the same name in Rome, will open this spot with some outdoor seating in partnership with Tao Group. The cuisine will be pan-Italian, and the chef, Stefano Lorenzini, will be fresh from a training session at the Antica Pesa in Italy.
Moxy Chelsea, 105 West 28th Street.
Chefs on the Move
Brian Lockwood
Mr. Lockwood, the executive sous-chef at Eleven Madison Park, has been promoted to executive chef. He replaces Dmitri Magi, who will be assigned to a new restaurant project for the company. Also at Eleven Madison Park, Sueyoung Jo is the new general manager, as Billy Peelle, formerly in that position, becomes the operations director for Make It Nice, the restaurant’s parent company.
Carla Hall
Ms. Hall, who doesn’t have a New York restaurant at this time, will cook a four-course dinner on Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m., part of a pop-up to benefit the Brownsville Community Culinary Center, a local food-oriented program. Tickets, $200, plus a $9.91 fee, include a copy of the chef’s latest book, “Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Every Day and Celebration,” and are available from bccccarlahallbenefit.eventbrite.com.
Brownsville Community Culinary Center, 69 Belmont Avenue (Watkins Street), Brownsville, Brooklyn, meltingpotfoundationusa.org.
