Headliner
Essential by Christophe
Christophe Bellanca, the French chef who rose to prominence in New York at Le Cirque and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, is opening his own restaurant on the Upper West Side. He’s taken over a townhouse restaurant that was once home to John Fraser’s Dovetail and Adam Leonti’s Leonti. But Mr. Bellanca has made it less plush, with light wood and beige throughout; wooden beams and clusters of tables give it a sort-of gathering place informality. “I wanted to create a place where I would like to be,” Mr. Bellanca said, “with comfortable banquettes, good iced tea, big slabs of bread.” There’s also a small outdoor terrace, opening next year. His food, like his background, is French but interpreted through his personal take, and is offered à la carte. Black sea bass with razor clams, scallops with stuffed cabbage and black truffles, and a burger are among the specialties. Throughout, Mr. Bellanca expresses his love of rock ’n’ roll with decorative touches, nodding especially to Bruce Springsteen. (Opens Wednesday)
103 West 77th Street, 646-478-7928, essentialbychristophe.com.
Opening
Five Acres
Greg Baxtrom, the chef and restaurateur, is opening his first Manhattan restaurant. It is part of the recently reconfigured dining complex on Rockefeller Center’s rink level. The five acres refers to Mr. Baxtrom’s family farm, near Chicago, a region that has influenced his cooking and restaurants. This new space, swathed in greenery with green leather banquettes, has a menu that prominently features vegetables: delicata squash, holding whipped ricotta and prosciutto chips; Cheddar pumpkin soup; fennel Caesar salad; kohlrabi “fettuccine Alfredo” with clams; and lamb gyro in a potato pita. Desserts by Alessandra Altieri include a seasonal pumpkin cake with pear sorbet and honey. Cocktails like the Arsenal and Bethesda Terrace nod to Mr. Baxtrom’s Olmsted restaurant, named for a designer of Central Park. (Opens Thursday)
30 Rockefeller Plaza, Rink Level, fiveacresnyc.com.
Taru/Kotaru
The dining room is Taru with a varied, contemporary menu of items, like cherrywood smoked octopus, gyoza with shawarma spice, miso monkey bread and peanut butter cake, plus sushi and sashimi. Kotaru is the 10-seat counter for 20-course omakase meals ($375) from the chef Tony Inn, an alumnus of Masa.
30 West 53rd Street, 917-456-1171, tarunyc.com.
Sake No Hana
A broad Japanese menu is being served out of this restaurant from the Tao Group Hospitality, in its new Lower East Side hotel. Japanese pottery and other items decorate the dining room, where sushi, sashimi, robata, noodle dishes, snacks and cuts of Wagyu are served.
Moxy Lower East Side, 145 Bowery, 212-249-0315, taogroup.com/sakenohana.
