Off the Menu
After closing their restaurant a year ago, Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske Valtierra are back with the drinks expert Dave Arnold for Bar Contra, serving snacks and cocktails.
Opening
Bar Contra
When they closed their highly regarded Contra nearly a year ago, Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske Valtierra promised something new in the space they’d had for 10 years. The paint is dry and they have opened in collaboration with a new partner, Dave Arnold, the Frank Stella of cocktails. The cocktails are listed in seven categories according to style. Some, like the Banana Justino with bananas and rum, and the Saltair, the Corsair redone with umeboshi plum, are libations for which Mr. Arnold is known. Bar snacks include Montauk scarlet prawns, fried scallop with a walnut condiment, and a chicken wing stuffed with Stilton. The room has been redone, with 40 seats.
138 Orchard Street (Delancey Street), 212-466-4633, barcontra.com.
Realmuto Alta Pasticceria
Francesco Realmuto, a Sicilian who came to New York and nearly 20 years ago started L’Arte del Gelato, a chain of shops and seasonal carts strewed across the city like chocolate chips in his mint gelato, is now opening his first restaurant. Giuseppe Zito, a pastry chef from Sicily, the region known for its sweet tooth, and who bakes a prizewinning panettone, is in charge of confections. The executive chef is Mauro Campanale, from Bari in Puglia. Traditional Italian breakfast, lunch, aperitivi and dinner items include a fava bean tartlet, cappellacci alla Norma and slow-cooked pork tenderloin. There’s a retail pastry counter.
117 Seventh Avenue South (West 10th Street), realmuto.com.
Tabú
The chef Kevin Boularte, formerly at Oxomoco and Mission Ceviche, here explores Mexico’s regional diversity, often with a modern take. A tostada topped with octopus and chipotle crema, fish fried in a tempura batter made with corn flour, lamb tacos, duck carnitas and a classic Yucatecan cochinita pibil are on the menu. Mexican spirits, tequila, mezcal, sotol and raicilla are poured straight or in cocktails, like the fermented corn margarita. The setting, with an outdoor patio, pays homage to Mayan culture with elements of the Mayan calendar on the sleek walls.
10 Hope Street (Roebling Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 347-848-1562, tabubk.com.
ChaChaTang
Having aced its audition as a pop-up in late spring, this collaboration between the restaurateurs Wilson Tang and John McDonald for a Hong Kong diner-style spot, inspired by cha chen tangs, has earned permanence. As of Aug. 8, it will replace Mr. McDonald’s Hancock Street restaurant in Greenwich Village, with the chef Doron Wong, who created the menu, working with the executive chef, Akiko Thurnauer. Dishes like Peking duck, ramen, other noodle preparations and more dim sum, are being added to a menu already featuring Cantonese French toast and Cobb salad with roast pork. Tablecloths will go from white to pink, and the schedule will expand to seven nights a week with brunch Saturdays and Sundays.
257 Avenue of the Americas (Downing Street), 212-645-0193, chachatang.com.
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