Headliner
YAO
From Canal Street to Wall Street, not so far in distance, sums up the ambition behind this new restaurant from Kenny Leung, a chef, and his business partner Thomas Tang. They established their first, August Gatherings, in Chinatown nearly 10 years ago with a Cantonese menu that had some creative twists. This time, they’re doubling down, adding additional global influences in a more formal setting and calling the food modern Cantonese. Mr. Leung, a native of Guangzhou who came to New York in 1988, pays homage with dishes like salt-baked chicken, several abalone preparations, fried rice with roasted eel, and Hong Kong style noodles with fish maw. But he will also be adding black truffles to his Cantonese shrimp dumplings, tossing octopus with fusilli, and using balsamic vinegar. Equipment like sous vide is also in his arsenal. “I’m preserving the integrity of Cantonese food but adding international ingredients and techniques,” he said. Among the desserts, he has successfully crossed the classic Chinese egg tart with the Portuguese nata, a similar confection that’s popular in Macau, and which he’s been serving at August Gatherings. Michael Goff, the beverage director, has assembled a tight list that starts at $50 but, with an eye on Wall Street, climbs to a $2,000 Burgundy. The restaurant’s fancy street entrance is next to the modest-looking Courtyard by Marriott, which houses the restaurant on its second floor. The large, airy, well-windowed space seating 168 in a main room and smaller private rooms, is fitted with banquettes and tables in quietly elegant tones of beige and salmon, with fake greenery and flowers and real Chinese ceramics. (Opening Monday)
213 Pearl Street (Maiden Lane), 917-265-8119, yaonyc.com.
Opening
Kanyakumari
After opening Kebab aur Sharab on the Upper West Side, a restaurant specializing in the food of Northern India, Salil Mehta, the founder of Fungi Hospitality, and the group’s executive chef and culinary director, Dipesh Shinde, are now going to the southern tip of the subcontinent with the food of Tamil Nadu. Expect kochi vegetable stew, several fish curries, lacy nir dosa crepes, crab masala fry, Hira Anna fried chicken with green mango chutney, and baby goat biryani. (Thursday)
20 East 17th Street, 212-641-0401, kanyakumarinyc.com.
María Mulata
A Colombian restaurant named for a tropical bird, also known as the long-tailed grackle, has moved into the space that was Swifty’s on the Upper East Side. It’s from Diana Carrillo, who also owns Chicken Coop, a Colombian restaurant in Valley Stream, N.Y. The narrow room has plush banquettes the indigo color of the bird. Menu highlights include mixed meat platters like the carreta criolla, and also a dramatic fried whole red snapper served, like a number of dishes, with green plantains. “There’s been a lot of interest,” said Nicolas Farias, the manager. “We’re something new in a part of the city with mostly French and Italian restaurants so people seem to want to try it.”
1007 Lexington Avenue (73rd Street), 646-946-4753, mariamulatanyc.com.
The Grain
This speakeasy-style bar with entertainment beneath Barn Joo, the Korean barbecue restaurant on Union Square, blends South Korean and American flavors in its drinks and serves a special dried squid dish for nibbling. (Thursday)
35 Union Square West (17th Street), 646-398-9663, barnjoo.com.
