Sona, an Indian Restaurant With Ties to a Star, Opens

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/dining/nyc-restaurant-news.html

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Priyanka Chopra Jonas, a star and producer of the film “White Tiger,” is the marquee name involved in this new restaurant. She’s serving as creative adviser. Her friend Maneesh K. Goyal, an entrepreneur whose father owned a restaurant but who is new to the business, is doing the heavy lifting. He has brought on David Rabin, a partner in the Lambs Club, and the chef Hari Nayak, who has worked in kitchens in Bangalore, India; Bangkok; Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; and elsewhere, after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America. Melissa Bowers designed Sona to evoke the Art Deco period that flourished in Mumbai in the 1930s. Mirrors from that era share the space with earlier design statements like Thonet-style chairs and Josef Hoffmann sconces. Stately gilded columns brighten the front lounge and the rear main dining room in a space that’s elegant down to the tablecloths. Mr. Nayak’s menu, not the typical Indian culinary encyclopedia, covers the subcontinent and beyond with dishes like tandoor roasted beets, Malvani prawn curry, Malabar chicken biryani, and coal-roasted oysters spiked with chile, garlic and lime. There’s a black-spiced roast chicken feast for two, and a Goan fish curry in a tribute to the late Floyd Cardoz, who was a friend to both Mr. Nayak and Mr. Goyal. He also gives a nod to Mr. Goyal’s family’s Texas restaurant, India House, with their butter chicken. (Opens Friday)

36 East 20th Street, 212-203-6460, sona-nyc.com.

Ryan Angulo and Ian Alvarez, chefs who worked together at Buttermilk Channel and French Louie, have taken over the former Freek’s Mill space to open their own spot. The fairly concise menu whispers France as it summons the Mediterranean. Shishito peppers with a squid ink romesco, bacalao with gigante beans, mackerel tartare with preserved lemon, tarte flambé, frites with aioli, a burger topped with Comté cheese, and a spiced half-chicken are a sampling. The space is divided into two areas, pale brick in front, natural in back, and the kitchen is equipped with a wood-burning oven. Outside, with seating for about 20, the walls are splashed with whimsical murals. (Thursday)

285 Nevins Street (Sackett Street), Gowanus, Brooklyn, 347-889-6588, victorbrooklyn.com.

A beer company, formed in 2018, by Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland, was supposed to become a full brewery and taproom last year. The pandemic slowed things considerably, but the brewery and its taproom have now opened. They’re bright, with a clean, airy design that nicely reflects their often lighthearted beers. Wine, coffee, nonalcoholic beverages and snacks like olives, cheese and hummus are also served.

87 Richardson Street (Leonard Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, taleabeer.com.

Union Square Hospitality’s Untitled at the Whitney closed a year ago as a result of the pandemic. Now, Union Square Events, the company’s catering and restaurant division, is reopening the ground-floor space at the museum with this pop-up cafe, for prepared sandwiches, salads, pastries, coffee, wine and beer to take away or to consume at limited outdoor seats. It’s available for museumgoers and the general public.

99 Gansevoort Street (Washington Street).

Not one but two locations are putting this new pizzeria on the map. Both sell slices, Sicilian-style squares and whole pies.

173 Orchard Street (Stanton Street), 212-542-0177, 75 Greenwich Avenue (West 11th Street), 212-542-0226‬, zazzys.com.

The brothers Eli and Max Sussman have extended their reach. Their Williamsburg, Brooklyn, location closed because of the pandemic, but they now have a Manhattan branch of their Middle Eastern restaurant in the lower-level concourse of Rockefeller Center. Chicken shawarma, kale fattoush, Greek salad, pita wraps and the like are served Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m for delivery and to take away. Seating in the light wood and tile space is coming.

Concourse, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, samesanyc.com.

Jackie Cuscuna and Brian Smith, the founders of Ample Hills, the ice cream chain that started in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, and eventually filed for bankruptcy and was sold to a Portland, Ore., company, will be back in the ice cream business this summer with a new venture and a new name in their old neighborhood. Doughnuts and an event space are part of the plan.

816 Washington Avenue (St. Johns Place), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

After seven years, Mr. Glocker, the executive chef of Bâtard in TriBeCa, has left. “I felt it was time,” he said. Though he does not have any specific plans, he is optimistic about his future. “The restaurant scene in New York seems hopeful again, and I expect to be part of it.” For two years, before the pandemic hit, he consulted for Keith McNally’s Augustine, which remains closed. Drew Nieporent, the managing partner of Bâtard, said he planned to reopen the restaurant with a new chef in about a month.

Having worked at Sushi Ginza Onodera in Honolulu and at the flagship in Tokyo, Mr. Kubo is now the head sushi chef at the Michelin-starred branch in Midtown Manhattan. The restaurant reopens this week, with two seatings for 10 people each at lunch Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, and dinner Tuesday to Saturday.

Mr. Moon, a native of South Korea who worked at Jungsik in New York, is now the executive chef of Hortus NYC, a two-story garden-themed restaurant in NoMad. His menu offers a contemporary interpretation of Asian cooking.

The former executive chef at Union Square Cafe, The Standard hotel and Loews Regency New York Hotel, is now in the Hudson Valley. He is the executive chef of The River Pavilion, the restaurant at the new Hutton Brickyards hotel, part of Salt Hotels, which is opening in May on riverfront property in Kingston, N.Y.

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