An anniversary celebration at Muku in Tribeca. The news also brought a rash of closings this week as we say farewell to a Turkish restaurant, a beloved Chinese dumpling spot, a Taiwanese restaurant, and a French eatery that had a great burger. Plus, have you ever wondered what professional tennis players eat at the U.S. Open?
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The 411
Forsythia has an exciting new chef and a new pasta tasting menu, STK just opened a new flagship in Chelsea, and we say goodbye to some restaurants this week.
A Grand Slam Meal
In a recent interview, the in-house chef at the U.S. Open in Flushing, Queens, Billy Strynkowski revealed what’s on the menu at the private cafeteria at Arthur Ashe Stadium, a private dining room with a capacity for 300. The players and their staff munch on fresh NYC bagels, fish flown in from Montauk, rack of lamb, tile fish, watermelon juice, smoothies, and plenty of pasta dishes. Chef Strynkowski even makes trips to nearby Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, the famed Flushing restaurant that serves some of the city’s best Shanghai Soup Dumplings, for the players and their staff.
Forsythia’s New Chef
The six-year-old, lauded Italian restaurant on the Lower East Side, Forsythia, has a new chef: 25-year-old Sydney McGee, who has officially taken the helm of the Roman-accented eatery. The executive chef previously worked at Don Angie and San Sabino in the West Village. To celebrate, the restaurant is offering a multi-course pasta-tasting menu for $98. Finally, if you just can’t get enough of the pasta that chef McGee is producing in the kitchen, you can take a pasta-making class at Forsythia too.
New York Is About to Get Footloose
New York is about to finally throw an antiquated law into the dustbin of history and then dance all over it. News is, restaurants and bars will no longer be banned from letting patrons dance if they want to. Governor Kathy Hochul recorded a video alongside Kevin Bacon, star of the 1984 film Footloose, about a rebellious teen who fights-dances to overturn a local ban on cutting a rug.
“New Yorkers have been working so hard, punching their cards and now at our great bars and restaurants across the state, you can finally cut loose,” she said in the video. “We’ve eliminated outdated restrictions on dancing in bars and restaurants to uplift our local businesses and give New Yorkers more opportunities to take advantage of all the great entertainment opportunities we have to offer.” So, c’mon, New York, let’s dance!
An A+ for STK
STK, the nationwide chain of steakhouses announced news of a new flagship: the new 200-seat, 4,800-square-foot mecca of all things meat is located in Chelsea at 412 W. 15th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. To celebrate, the new STK and all the other STKs around the country are offering a special deal for teachers and educational professionals: from September 1 to 7, get a buy-one-get-one-free entree from a select menu, along with $9 margaritas. We give STK an “A+” for this dining deal.
Closing Time
There have been a plethora of closings in the news this week. Ankara, a restaurant on the Lower East Side serving Turkish cuisine, is a goner. Mimi Cheng’s East Village outlet for above-average dumplings is donezo. Chateau Royale, the bi-level Greenwich Village restaurant serving traditional French fare and an excellent bar burger, has said au revoir. Chocolate specialist Max Brenner at Union Square has closed the factory. And finally, 886, the very good Taiwanese restaurant on St. Marks Place in the East Village, shut down permanently on August 31.
On the Menu
The Honey Deuce is doing an NYC residency at various bars and restaurants around the city until the end of the U.S. Open, Muku is celebrating its first birthday, and we heard news that Chada has a great new lunch offering.
In Case You Haven’t Noticed, the Honey Deuce Is Here
From now until the end of the U.S. Open in mid September, many restaurants and bars are offering riffs and specials on the Honey Deuce, the official cocktail of the Grand Slam tennis event. Right now it feels like you can’t throw a tennis ball in New York without hitting an establishment mixing up vodka, lemonade, raspberry liqueur, and frozen honeydew melon balls. The Honey Deuce has become the pumpkin spice of August and September, which is perfectly fine news to us.
Here is a quick round-up of where you can get your hands (and lips) on a variation of the Honey Deuce: The Four Seasons New York Downtown, Muku, The Wall Street Hotel, Clemente Bar, Casasalvo, COQODAQ, Lotte New York Palace, Red Rooster Harlem, Elcielo, Lucky Tiger, and 28 nomad, among dozens of other spots.
Muku’s First Birthday
Muku, the lauded kaiseki spot in Tribeca, and the fastest restaurant to ever receive a Michelin star in New York City, is celebrating its first-year anniversary. And it wants you to help them. The restaurant is offering a special menu from September 1 to October 3.
On the multi-course menu you’ll find Ayu Tempura, Fried Soft-Shell Turtle, and Harako Meshi, a traditional dish from the Miyagi Prefecture in Japan that features salmon, roe, rice, red miso soup, and Japanese pickles, among other ingredients. The price of the limited-time menu is $375 per person. Make a reservation on OpenTable. Happy birthday, Muku-san!
Chada’s New Lunch
Chada, the new-ish Bangkok-leaning Thai restaurant in Greenwich Village, has just kicked off a brand-new four-course lunch special—and it’s a bargain at just $35 per person. The offerings include a Double Mushroom Spring Roll, because a single offering of ‘shrooms is never enough; Shrimp Pad Thai; Chicken Pad See Ew; Beef Krapow; and Coconut Ice Cream, among other menu options. The lunch special is available from 11:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Monday to Friday.
STK Embraces the Pumpkin
Autumn is upon us and that means the sights and smells of pumpkin will become nearly ubiquitous and all over the news. STK is contributing to the pumpkin-palooza by offering a seasonal pumpkin menu. This means Pumpkin Ravioli, Crab Stuffed Shrimp (with pumpkin cream), Pumpkin Pie, and even a Pumpkin Espresso Martini and a Pumpkin Spice Margarita. The menu will be offered at STK’s new flagship spot in Chelsea, as well as STKs everywhere else.
Don’t Miss This Week
Need some dining out recommendations? Try these three hot spots, and make sure to check out the week’s events.
Wednesday: The Walker Rooftop in Tribeca offers a lovely breakfast spread on its rooftop. With the warm-weather season winding down, I’ll be there, indulging in ham and cheese croissants and avocado toast. There are at least 20 other rooftop bars and restaurants around the city that are still open.
Thursday: I’m heading to Vinyl Steakhouse with three friends on Thursday to partake in their Summer Wine event, in which the ordering of four entrees gets you a complimentary bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Vinyl is also participating next week in the RARE Steak Championship in Brooklyn, so consider this a pre-festival taste.
Sunday: I’ll be learning to make pizza in the West Village. Specifically, I’m taking a class at Roman pizza spot, Little Charli on Bleecker Street. You can find out more here and also see where else you can get outstanding pizza in lower Manhattan.
