Headliner
Eataly SoHo
This, the third Eataly in Manhattan, the ninth in the United States and the 49th worldwide, is more restaurant than food market. About half the 20,000-square-foot space, smaller than the Eataly locations in the Flatiron and financial districts, is taken up by a 200-seat dining room and bar, generously windowed, with a brick wall and a bar done in natural wood. Just past the restaurant is the cafe, a casual all-day coffee bar with tables serving pastries, breakfast fare and other light food like Roman-style pizza alla pala. Unlike the usual Eataly template, there are no dining counters in the retail food departments like the pizzeria or butcher. The restaurant’s wine list and menu are thoroughly Italian, with beef carpaccio, cold seafood salad, radicchio salad, tagliatelle Bolognese, rigatoni carbonara, lasagna with mushroom ragù and various pizzas. The market side of the establishment sells groceries like sauces, oils, pastas and condiments, including some newly anointed with Eataly’s private label. Fresh food like produce, meats, seafood, cheeses and charcuterie is all prepackaged. Tommaso Brusò, the new chief executive of Eataly North America, said another 20 Eatalys are planned for North America in the next five years. And while they’re at it, they will also be expanding the Flatiron district store next spring. (Opens Nov. 25)
200 Lafayette Street (Broome Street), eataly.com.
Opening
HAAM
Formerly takeout-only and based in Sunnyside, Queens, this plant-based Caribbean spot has become a proper restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s by the chef and owner Yesenia Ramdass, whose cooking is inspired by her family’s Dominican heritage and the Trinidadian background of her husband, Randy Ramdass. There are 30 seats and six bar perches in the space, which is done with straw and green for an island feel. The menu showcases jerk barbecued mushrooms in a yellow rice ball, mashed yucca with king oyster mushroom “scallops,” a sweet plantain boat stuffed with lentils and cabbage slaw, Yuh Motha’s mofongo with lion’s mane mushrooms and cream sauce and arroz con leche rice pudding made with cashew milk. There’s takeout and delivery. (Wednesday)
234 Union Avenue (Meserole Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 212-271-0110, healthyasamotha.com.
Bash Burger
John McDonald has joined forces with Stephen Hanson, another restaurateur, to open this minimalist burger stall in an Urbanspace food hall. The menu offers but two choices: the Classic, like the one you’d have found at Mr. McDonald’s Burger & Barrel, now closed, with cheese, lettuce and tomato; and the Bash Burger, also a four-ounce patty with the addition of bacon, onion jam and shaved pickles, and so named because it has repeatedly taken first place in the New York City Wine & Food festival’s burger bash contest. Fries, fountain drinks, beer, wine and cocktails are served.
Urbanspace Vanderbilt, 230 Park Avenue (45th Street), bashburger.com.
Champagne and Caviar Bar
The finishing touches are complete and this new luxury lounge on the lower level of the RH Guesthouse in the meatpacking district has opened. Tuna cornets, brioche lobster rolls, seafood and meat tartares, and potatoes all come with scoops of Petrossian caviar; menu items start at $40. And if you prefer your caviar neat, with the usual accouterments, it’s served that way too. Champagnes are offered by the glass, half-bottle and bottle and there are cocktails as well. The chairman of RH, Gary Friedman, has plans to open more of these jewel boxes, in London, Paris and Aspen, Colo.
RH Guesthouse New York, 55 Gansevoort Street (Greenwich Street), 212-201-0867, rhguesthouse.com.
