Off the Menu
The two-story space, adorned with paintings and drawings by Robert De Niro Sr., will serve a larger menu.
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Opening
Locanda Verde
New and improved is the best way to describe this Hudson Yards location of Andrew Carmellini’s 15-year old TriBeCa osteria. It’s more clubby-looking, on two floors on street level in a shiny new tower, adorned throughout with paintings and drawings (even on the menu) by Robert De Niro Sr., the New York School artist and father of the actor who is a backer of the restaurant. A few dishes on the downtown menu are served, with some tweaks. The pumpkin ravioli is now tortelli di zucca (above); and dishes for two (or more) are now on the menu, not as hidden specials, including garlic chicken, lobster paccheri and a bistecca alla Fiorentina. (Friday)
50 Hudson Yards (34th Street), 212-925-4300, locandaverdenyc.com.
Laziza
Tastes of the Middle East, with a focus on Lebanon and Turkey, are served here to a boogie beat. Charcoal-grilled mezze dance with drinks, like a milk punch made with labneh, and fruity nonalcoholic sharbats. The plush 43-seat hangout is the work of the owner and chef Jilbert El-Zmetr, known for Republic of Booza, whose personal vinyl collection and speakers handle the sound.
306A Malcolm X Boulevard (MacDonough Street), Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, funkylaziza.com.
Paris Bar
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? After dining at this new brasserie, the latest from the flamboyant restaurateur Shelly Fireman, it’s half a block to the left. Brando De Oliveira, a Cordon Bleu graduate long with Fireman Hospitality hews classique on his menu. Included in the Fireman presence at the hotel is Le Jardin, a rooftop for drinks, a view and an array of dips, small plates simple mains, like a lobster roll, that tilt less Gallic.
Le Meridien Hotel, 120 West 57th Street, 212-581-8900, parisbarnyc.com.
Aqua
The owners of Hutong, the Aqua Restaurant Group, pair two cuisines under one grandiose roof. There’s Italian with Aqua Roma and Japanese with Aqua Kyoto. They’ve done it in London and Hong Kong, but they need some 432 diners to fill the two-story sprawl in New York. Each cuisine has its own kitchen and menu, and diners are encouraged to mix and match. Start with sushi, follow with a pizzette, then charcoal-grilled black cod with miso and, finally, a lemon-ricotta dessert. Another component, Aqua Spirit, takes care of beverages.
902 Broadway (20th Street), 212-353-3888, aqua-nyc.com.
Kiko
The former Giorgione restaurant is now this Hudson Square outpost that draws on China, Japan and California by the chef Alex Chang. His wife, the French-born Lina Goujjane, whose family gave New York the legendary One if by Land, Two if by Sea, is in charge of wine. Thrice-fried chicken wings with sansho and makrut lime, Asian pear salad with young ginger, head-on prawns drenched in XO butter, and a martini that welcomes sake and yuzu strut their style. The moody 75-seat setting brightens toward the back.
307 Spring Street (Hudson Street), kikonewyork.com.
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