Restaurant Boasting New York City Flair Coming to the Castro

“When it opens this spring, Gramercy Park will serve Californian cuisine in the evenings, New York City-style sandwiches in the afternoons, and all-American brunch on the weekends. Owner Mark White hopes to open the restaurant by mid-April at 216 Church Street, formerly Crepevine in the Castro.

White is fairly secretive about his background. He says he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America 20 years ago, and went on to own four restaurants in New York. But he sold off his stakes in those restaurants — which he did not name — and now has his eyes on San Francisco. He’s starting a new restaurant group, Madison Avenue Hospitality Group, and plans to open five restaurants within five years here. Gramercy Park is the first.”

“Gramercy Park will also occupy a smaller, 480-square-foot space next door — dubbed Gramercy Park To-Go — to serve commuters in the morning with coffee and grab-and-go items. It’ll also provide a streamlined area for delivery services like Caviar and Postmates to pick up orders without clogging up the main dining room. Between the two spaces, White hopes Gramercy Park will be the sort of neighborhood spot folks visit multiple times a month.”

Read more here.

Impact of Min Wage Increase / NYCHA Survey & Results

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See here NYCHA Survey and Results on Minimum Wage Increase

Emeril Lagasse opens NYC restaurant

Emeril Lagasse in his new Greek restaurant, Rodos, at 39 W 24th street in Midtown

World renowned chef Emeril Lagasse has secretly opened his very first New York City restaurant — completely under the radar. For now, Rodos feels like your own private Greek island oasis, though it won’t stay that way for long.

Think healthy Greek fare with a splash of New Orleans decadence. The stealth chef launched Rodos in the lobby of Chelsea’s Hotel Henri with restaurateur Yiannis Chatiris on January 8.

“Yiannis and I have known each other professionally for years and became friends,” Lagasse said. “I’ve had more than 75 offers to open in New York but nothing was right until now.”

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NYC’s Most Anticipated Openings of Winter 2019

“To be sure, increased costs is having its impact. Some of the city’s most exciting restaurateurs are focusing their efforts on smaller spaces. The Franks of Italian favorite Frankies 457 are now working with one of Long Island’s most legendary pizzamakers, Umberto Corteo, but it will be for a slice shop. All-day dining — a format that, for some, is a way to help maximize sales — continues to flourish, like at Gertie, Pilar Cuban Bakery, and Bourke Street Bakery.

Money, after all, still runs things. The biggest change to the dining scene will be the debut of all the restaurants at Hudson Yards, the behemoth Manhattan far west side development from Related Companies that has cost $20 billion. Most of the chefs in it needed to have at least $2 million in upfront capital. It arguably isn’t great for the future of NYC dining.”

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Word-Of-Mouth Recommendations Still Effective Among Diners

“When it comes to choosing a restaurant, it seems good old-fashioned word of mouth is not dead, according to a recent survey by reservation platform SevenRooms.

More than half of American diners (54 percent) turn to friends and family for restaurant recommendations. About 30 percent consult review sites like Yelp, and 25 percent were influenced by something they saw on TV, according to the survey, conducted with research firm YouGov.”

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Webster Hall Team Opens New Seneca Avenue Restaurant

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“The family behind New York’s Webster Hall has opened a new organic American eatery on Seneca Avenue. The Seneca combines a coffee shop, restaurant and bar inside the new digs that opened last summer at 582 Seneca Ave., owners said.

The eatery features a full coffee menu, kombucha on tap, a full menu of beers, natural wines and cocktails, and a short menu of elevated bar food. A breakfast sandwich comes with house-made sausage and hot sauce, the chicken club comes on pullman bread and the tacos come with either chorizo, avocado or mushrooms.

The Seneca is open from Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., the kitchen stays open until midnight and happy hour is from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day, according to the eatery’s website.”

See more here.

Different Types Of Restaurant Menus

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“Menu is essential for all restaurants and it plays an important role in promoting the business. A menu not only provides information about the food articles available at the restaurant along with prices, but also tempt the customer to order the food. Menu should be attractive and informative as in not long but it should be able to provide the necessary information.

Different restaurants have different approaches on serving the food and fixing prices for each item. Similarly different restaurants follow different menu styles. Here we are going to talk about the most commonly used five different types of restaurant menus.

Static Menu

This is the most common type of menu which has been accepted widely. Different food items will be categorized into different groups and subgroups such as appetizers, entrees, salads, soups, desserts etc. This type of menu will be kept laminated for easy cleaning and will contain several pages. Most of the fast food restaurants use this type of menu.

A’la Carte Menu

When different food items are sold individually, this type of menu will be the best. For example, when you order a steak, it will not accompany salads and potatoes. You will have to order them separately. In such restaurants, the prices of each item should be shown individually.

Table d’hote Menu

In some restaurants where food items are sold as multi course meals. Here the choices will be less and the charges will be for the meal not for individual items. Customer will not have a choice to order individual items. In such restaurants “Table d’hote” type of menu will be the best choice. This is also known as “Prix Fixe Menu”.

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The Best Restaurant Meals of 2018

Roasted eggplant with Calabrian chile

Kat Kinsman, Extra Crispy Senior Food & Drinks Editor and Food & Wine Contributor: Eating out is often tough for me because I have so many dietary restrictions, so the vegetable courses at Misi were an absolute godsend. I texted a friend on the way home freaking out about how each of them was excellent in a violently different way, and that I could partake of just about everything with glee. Also, I must mention the hospitality at Temple Court. Even during an overwhelmed Restaurant Week, every single person was gracious, informed, efficient, and warm. I know I’m an easily identifiable food world professional, but I also take care to look around and see how other tables are being treated. All smiles. It was a joy.”

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Why Did NYC Lose 15 Kosher Restaurants In 2018?

Why Did NYC Lose 15 Kosher Restaurants In 2018? by the Forward

“Everyone knows opening a restaurant is a tricky business. Only 21% of restaurant start-ups survive past 15 years, the average restaurant lifetime is 4.5 years, and 17% of restaurants fail within their first year of business. In the kosher community, all of those percentages are a whole lot higher.

2018 was a particularly terrible year, with 15 kosher restaurants closing up shop. Veteran Manhattan kosher restaurants — midtown’s Cafe K, the Upper East Side’s Italian restaurant Va Bene, and Amsterdam Burger on the West Side — shuttered their doors this year. The gourmet kosher supermarket, Seasons, on the West Sider; Basta, an Israeli artisanal pizza spot in midtown east; Maoz, a vegetarian falafel chain throughout Manhattan — all closed.”

Read more here.

The Biggest Surprises in NYC Dining in 2018

A dinner spread at Le Sia

“Serena Dai, editor of Eater NY: I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised by this because the world is such a garbage fire, but it was interesting to see how quickly powerful people (and a lot of media) were to embrace the return of the Four Seasons Restaurant seemingly without any caveat. I guess I’m an optimist, which means I will always be a little bit surprised at how naive old-school power is. Did the 40 investors really think that Julian Niccolini’s past behavior wouldn’t impact perception of the restaurant among the new audience they were reportedly aiming to attract? Did they really think amazing food and a $30 million build-out could overcome years and years of baggage — now newly visible in the age of #MeToo — when nobody from the restaurant came out front to address the fact that the face of the restaurant is an admitted sexual assaulter? People can’t move forward without an apology, but here, there wasn’t even really that. Yes, it’s legendary; yes, it’s hugely influential. But we live in a different world now, and sometimes it is okay to pay our respects, and then lay a restaurant to rest.”

See more here.