Headliner
Gjelina
It’s been going on seven years since the team at the Gjelina Group in Venice, Calif., first toyed with the notion of opening a New York branch. It finally happened on Dec. 31. “I think it turned out for the best,” said the chief executive Shelley Armistead. She was taking a brief break from waiting tables in the restaurant’s upstairs dining room; she pitches in from time to time. The restaurant serves only breakfast and lunch, no reservations. Ms. Armistead cited the pandemic, construction and permits for the delays; dinner was not planned right out of the gate, and will not be served until more staff is trained. “But when you serve breakfast, you attract the neighborhood, not Instagram followers,” she said. The two-story, 120-seat space has a cafe area in front and a bright, rustic bare-table dining room with an open kitchen, bar and counter beyond. Upstairs, you’ll find two polished dining rooms and a bar with plush mohair banquettes and a sunny front area. In Los Angeles, the Gjelina Group has a bakery, a takeout shop and other retail venues, some of which Ms. Armistead is hoping to transport to New York. Ms. Armistead described the Gjelina Group as a “collective of 550 people,” taking the approach that they give as much financial support as possible directly to suppliers, like farmers, anglers, weavers, ceramists and flower cultivators. There is no named chef coming up with the stretch of daily menu of largely produce-driven specialties like lemon buckwheat ricotta pancakes, a frittata with leeks and herbs, and Moroccan baked eggs with merguez for breakfast; oysters, lamb tartare, smoked mackerel with arugula, roasted arrowhead cabbage in bagna cauda, einkorn pappardelle with brisket, duck confit with red cabbage, and 10 inventive pizzas, including one with mixed mushrooms and garlic confit. On the list of desserts is an apple clafoutis and buttermilk panna cotta with tahini. Wines, cocktails, beers and juices are poured.
45 Bond Street (Bowery), 646-475-2506, gjelina.com.
Opening
Chi
The Toms, Tom Lei and Tom Lo, who own Spy C Chinese restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens, have opened this new place in Hell’s Kitchen, also featuring Sichuan food. It has a tailored look with Chinese detailing and is fairly spacious: 150 seats and three private dining rooms. The menu is vast, with more than a dozen categories. You’ll find appetizers, dim sum, small plates like Korean spicy chicken wings and crisp beef tendon with caviar, and Sichuan cuisine, including dried pepper Dungeness crab, mala boneless pork trotters and Chongqing spicy chicken. Among the categories are “tastes from different provinces,” including lobster in preserved egg sauce, and American Chinese selections, like sweet and sour pork and General Tso’s chicken. There are also rices, noodles, vegetables and desserts.
492 Ninth Avenue (37th Street), 212-918-1470, chirestaurantnyc.com.
Gab’s
In the space that was Toriko, a yakitori specialist, there’s now seasonal contemporary fare, sometimes elevated with items like an uni tartlet, celeriac dauphinoise and a $75 curried lobster dish. The food is by Nate Ashton, a former chef de cuisine at Mimi in Greenwich Village. His other specialties include spaetzle with honey nut squash; duck; and Berkshire pork ribs. The owner, Gabby Madden, has filled the room with her personal artwork, dishes and other items. (Opens Wednesday)
76 Carmine Street (Seventh Avenue South), 917-261-6601, gabsnyc.com.
Three Maples
Matthew Lief, Michael Felix and Maria Dela Cruz, the chefs who ran Landhaus in Berg’n, the now-closed collection of dining stalls in Crown Heights, are opening this stand-alone tavern. Alongside draft beers, wines by the glass and $10 happy-hour cocktails, they’re serving the maple-glazed thick-cut bacon for which they became known, a spicy fried chicken sandwich, fish and chips, a burger, an elote dip and a few salads. (Wednesday)
1452 Fulton Street (Tompkins Avenue), Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, 347-365-9382, threemaplesbk.com.
