Headliner
Violet
Rhode Island, where Emily and Matthew Hyland met in college, has inspired their sixth and most elegant restaurant. For this latest venture, the two, who were instrumental in bringing square Detroit-style pizzas to Brooklyn, Manhattan and Nashville, are focusing on grilled pizzas in the style of Al Forno in Providence — neither round nor square but “misshapen,” as Mr. Hyland put it. They’re topped with clams, hoisin sauce and duck prosciutto; grilled squash, Sichuan oil and chevre; and other combinations. There are also stuffies, the fist-size baked clams loved by Rhode Islanders, though Mr. Hyland said he would use more modest littlenecks instead of quahogs. The chef on hand is Alex Ureña, whose restaurant Ureña received two stars from Frank Bruni in The New York Times in 2006. Mr. Hyland will oversee the menu, which includes varying pasta dishes and plates. All come from an open kitchen in the back of the intimate space, which has a warmly lit arched ceiling and Art Deco touches. (Opens Thursday)
511 East Fifth Street (Avenue A), 646-850-5900, violeteastvillage.com.
Opening
La Central
In planning the menu for the restaurant in the Hôtel Americano in Chelsea, the chef Franklin Becker started to look to Mexico. (The hotel’s owners are from Mexico City.) But then, he said, he spoke with members of his staff, who came from Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, in addition to Mexico, and invited them to explain the dishes they like to cook. Those conversations informed the menu. Acapulco-style ceviche, Peruvian leche de tigre shrimp, Colombian potato empanadas and Salvadoran mushroom pupusas are some of the dishes. Tacos, fish or steak for two, and arbol-spiced chicken are also on the menu. Mr. Becker has come up with savory churros crullers stuffed with cheese and garlic-jalapeño butter. The room is mostly gray, with marble tables and black leather seating. (Thursday)
518 West 27th Street, 212-216-0000, hotel-americano.com.
Gitano Jungle Room
Last summer in SoHo, palms and other greenery decorated Gitano NYC, a pop-up version of a restaurant in Tulum, Mexico. It stayed open until October, despite a couple of interruptions by the city health department. Now James Gardner, who runs Grupo Gitano, has relocated it to the nearby James Hotel. The semi-underground room that was David Burke Kitchen is thick with trees and plants. Gitano’s esteemed consulting chef, Mads Refslund of Sweden, and the executive chef and partner Yvan Lemoine are overseeing the creative Mexican menu.
The James Hotel, 23 Grand Street (Avenue of the Americas), 212-201-9119, grupogitano.com/nyc.
Fiaschetteria Pistoia
A West Village branch of this Italian restaurant with roots in Pistoia, Italy, near Florence, has opened. For fans of its mostly Tuscan menu, it’s in the nick of time: A fire on Christmas morning caused the East Village location to be closed temporarily. The new restaurant seats only 20, and does not take reservations.
114 Christopher Street (Bedford Street), 646-609-2911.
Valerie
Here’s a serious drinking establishment on the edge of the theater district. The design recalls Art Deco on two levels, both offering food and drinks. The Gatsby Room and Gatsby Den feature local, small-batch spirits, and pay particular attention to gin and tonics, with more than a dozen gins and a choice of assorted artisanal tonics. The two spaces serve the chef Darren Pettigrew’s crisp duck wings, meat and cheese boards, tuna tartare, flatbreads with assorted toppings, Korean-style fried chicken, steak frites and a turkey burger.
45 West 45th Street, 212-302-4545, valerienewyorkcity.com.
The Factory 380
The timing of this Andy Warhol homage by four partners who are big fans is spot on, considering the current exhibit of his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The inspiration for the space — a combination of two bars with room for 150 and a smaller speakeasy-style lounge named Edie’s (for Edie Sedgwick, a muse) — is the Factory, Warhol’s Union Square studio. There are abundant references to the artist and to Studio 54, one of his hangouts.
380 Third Avenue (27th Street), 212-686-6380, thefactory380.com.
Closed
Talde
Dale Talde’s Asian restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn, closed on Jan. 1.
Blue Water Grill
After more than 20 years, this Union Square seafood staple is no more. The sign on the door says “This Location Has Permanently Closed.” Blame a rent increase.
Chef on the Move
Christina Lecki
There have been changes at Reynard in the Wythe Hotel, starting with the departure last fall of Andrew Tarlow, a founder who ran the restaurant. Now Ms. Lecki, the executive chef, has left, with no further plans announced. Charlene Santiago is the chef in charge. In announcing Ms. Lecki’s departure, the hotel’s owner, Peter Lawrence, said, “We are now working hard on a reimagination of the food concept at the hotel that we will share in the coming months.”
Expanding
The Institute of Culinary Education and the Natural Gourmet Institute
Long before the “wellness” trend, there was the Natural Gourmet Institute, founded in 1977 in New York by Annemarie Colbin. It offered classes in plant-based cooking and nutrition for amateurs and for chefs, more than 2,600 of whom completed the institute’s six-month professional program. The school will close in April, and its curriculum will be taken over by the Institute of Culinary Education in Battery Park City, where its classes in vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and therapeutic food, thought to promote healing, will be available for recreational and professional cooks. “We have always thought it important and smart to offer a plant-and nutrition-oriented culinary training program, and the opportunity to have that based on N.G.I.’s highly-respected curriculum is fantastic,” said Rick Smilow, the president on the Institute of Culinary Education.
Looking Ahead
Clean Slate Café
This pop-up serving free meals will be open from Jan. 23 to 25. It’s presented by Whole30, a diet program, and Applegate Farms, a manufacturer of mostly organic processed meats, and will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. But registration for tickets that provide preferred entry will open on Wednesday through EventBrite (eventbrite.com).
446 Broadway (Grand Street).
