A flight to Seattle from New York can entail considerable expense and a connection or two. But this fall will offer an alternate route: a trip to 57th Street and Broadway.
Nordstrom, the Seattle-based department-store chain, will offer a taste of that city’s signature Asian-influenced, seafood-driven, somewhat rustic cooking at several restaurants in the major new store it will open in late October. Collaborating on the restaurants are the chefs Tom Douglas and Ethan Stowell, two longtime stars of the Seattle dining scene.
Jamie Nordstrom, the president of stores, said in an interview that restaurants, rather than food markets, are an important component at all the stores. All of the new options — seven places for eating and drinking — will be on various floors in the 320,000-square-foot store selling women’s and children’s clothing and shoes, directly across Broadway from the much smaller men’s store that Nordstrom opened last year.
Mr. Douglas, who has had restaurants in Seattle for more than 30 years and has created some for other Nordstrom stores, said he had never considered coming to New York until now. He will open Hani Pacific, a modern dining room with an open kitchen and an oceanic mural, serving small plates like crispy shrimp spring rolls and cured salmon rice cakes. “It’s the cuisine I cut my teeth on,” he said.
He will also open Jeannie’s, a counter for oval pizzas, pasta and toasted sandwiches; and Oh Mochi, with mochi doughnuts.
[Click here to read more from our restaurant preview.]
Mr. Stowell, who owns How to Cook a Wolf, a Seattle restaurant named for a book by M.F.K. Fisher, is creating Wolf, the only restaurant that will be open after store hours. Like many of his 15 other restaurants, it will offer Italian dishes using Pacific Northwest ingredients like Dungeness crab, king salmon, oysters and wild mushrooms. Wolf, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Broadway, is his first project with Nordstrom. “I’m superexcited to be coming to New York,” Mr. Stowell said.
The store will also have Bistro Verde, a restaurant with a broad menu that is already a fixture in some Nordstrom stores; Broadway Bar, a two-level lounge with small plates; and Shoe Bar, for cocktails, coffee and tidbits in the lower-level shoe department.
Nordstrom 225 West 57th Street, nordstrom.com, October.
