New York Times
Off the Menu
Dining & Wine
by Florence Fabricant
November 1, 2006
RUSSIAN TEA ROOM This fabled restaurant, which closed in 2002, is to reopen its ground-floor dining room for dinner on Friday. Lunch will follow in a few weeks. Gary Robins, formerly of the Biltmore Room in Chelsea, is the chef. The new owners have kept most of the décor from the tea room’s 1999 remodeling intact: 150 West 57th Street, (212) 581-7100.
CRONKITE PIZZERIA AND WINE BAR Michael Ayoub, who is the owner of Fornino in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and who formerly owned Cucina in Park Slope, opens this brick-oven pizzeria on the Lower East Side today: 133 Norfolk Street (Rivington Street), (212) 375-1500.
MAI HOUSE Translucent lotus lights define the serene new look of the former Tribakery. Michael Huynh, the chef and a native of Saigon, is ready to start cooking Vietnamese clay-pot chicken and more tomorrow: 186 Franklin Street (Hudson Street), (212) 431-0606.
ZENKICHI It’s called a brasserie but you might call this new spot, opening Friday, a Japanese gastropub, what with small plates of dishes like miso-marinated spareribs and oyster risotto. Buttons on the tables summon waiters: 77 North Sixth Street (Wythe Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 388-8985.
Open Now
E.U. (EUROPEAN UNION) Sara Ochs, left, who was the chef de cuisine at Esca, is in charge of this restaurant, which opened late last week. After a protracted battle over its liquor license, it now serves beer and wine. Ms. Ochs’s menu features a pan-European array of dishes, including pork schnitzel and cassoulet: 235 East Fourth Street (Avenue B), (212) 254-2900.
BENJAMIN STEAKHOUSE Can a Peter Luger pedigree guarantee success where others, including Britney Spears, have failed? Arturo McLeod, who was a chef at Luger’s, has opened his Manhattan version in the Dylan Hotel. Breakfast is served, in addition to lunch and dinner: 52 East 41st Street, (212) 297-9177.
BISCUIT BARBECUE Night and Day in Park Slope, Brooklyn, has been redone, with Josh Cohen, who owned Biscuit on Flatbush Avenue, in charge: 230 Fifth Avenue (President Street), (718) 399-2161.
BLT BURGER Laurent Tourondel’s latest restaurant is an unpretentious spot that picks up on serving burgers, then cupcakes, which Mitchel London started on Ninth Avenue. The burgers include a classic and versions with kobe beef and white turkey meat: 470 Avenue of the Americas (11th Street), (212) 243-8226.
Closed
BOUTERIN After 12 years, Antoine Bouterin lost the lease for his country French restaurant at 420 East 59th Street. He’s taking time off.