Off the Menu
Barlume offers up Mediterranean, Casa moves a to a larger TriBeCa home for its Brazilian fare and more restaurant news.
Opening
Sunn’s Chinatown
Sunny Lee — who worked at Blue Hill, Eleven Madison Park and Insa, and has been doing banchan pop-ups — now has her own place, in partnership with the restaurateur and wine merchant Grant Reynolds. The brick-walled dining room is where you’ll find a Korean spicy tuna roll, a crab gyeranmari omelet and hobak chigae, a squash and short rib stew. Mr. Reynolds’s people are seeing to the wines, soju, makgeolli and lagers. On New Year’s Day Ms. Lee will open at 11 a.m. and serve bowls of tteokguk, a short rib and oxtail broth with sliced rice cake coins for prosperity, an omelet topping and aged kimchi alongside.
139 Division Street (Canal Street), no phone, sunnsnyc.com.
Barlume
The latest sampling of the food of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean comes from LDV Hospitality, known for Scarpetta and American Cut. Italy dominates on the menu of spreads, pinsas (Roman pizzas), pastas, small plates, salads and mains, with detours to Spain (patatas bravas, octopus Catalana), Greece (tzatziki, fried zucchini) and North Africa (grilled merguez). A cafe at the entry for breakfast segues into a wine bar at night. The comfortable dining room seats 112 on velvet upholstery plus 25 in the mezzanine. A lower level houses Barlume Downstairs for cocktails. (Opens Saturday)
900 Broadway (20th Street), 212-691-4978, barlume.com.
Casa
Home-style Brazilian defined Jupira Lee’s West Village spot until it closed two years ago (Zimmi’s moved in recently). She’s now moved into the larger, brick-walled space in TriBeCa that was Khe-Yo. And with the arrival of her liquor license she’s ready to pour those caipirinhas alongside a raft of choices like empanadas, fried yucca sticks, croquettes, moqueca fish stew, an array of beef dishes and specialties like feijoada, including a vegan rendition. It’s impossible to leave without nibbling a chocolate-coated brigadeiro.
157 Duane Street (Hudson Street), 212-220-5352, casarestaurant.com.
Eshel
This glatt kosher Persian and Mediterranean dining room is from Rafael Yaghoubian, who has teamed up with an experienced partner, Mordechai Haimzadegan, who owns Shiraz in Great Neck, N.Y. His wife, Orly Yaghoubian, is also involved. Appetizers and mezze cover familiar Eastern Mediterranean territory; main courses focus more on Iran with dried lime and herbed beef stew, saffron chicken skewers and jeweled rice.
507 Columbus Avenue (84th Street), 212-299-4759.
Aves Chinese Restaurant
A sleek new replacement for La Mirabelle, long a neighborhood anchor for onion soup and beef Bourguignon, then long-shuttered, is Chinese, its name a reference to birds. General Tso’s chicken wings, kung pao chicken and of course, Peking duck (during soft-opening until 2025, $45 for half, $88 whole), highlight the concise menu. Salt and pepper squid, steam pot clams, braised pork belly, shaking beef and Chinese broccoli with salted fish are also served. Leon Liu, the manager and a partner, said a tuna tartare incorporated Chinese ingredients. “One of our chefs is not Chinese and we wanted to serve dishes anyone can enjoy,” he said.
102 West 86th Street, 212-871-7102, avesnyc.com.
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