Headliner
Ilis
Some new restaurants are opportunistic, the result of circumstance. Others, like the Danish chef Mads Refslund’s new Brooklyn project, are years in the planning — eight years exactly, said Mr. Refslund, a founder of Noma in Copenhagen. What he set out to achieve is a fluid fine-dining concept, where the cooks are the servers. “Everyone is a cook,” he said. “They can best explain the food to the customers, but turning cooks into waiters is a challenge.” There are 26 of them, all dressed in black and rotating their stations. They’re in full view at work: The dining room amounts to a huge square kitchen, surrounded by 58 counter and table seats, and a bar and a lounge in an industrial space — previously a rubber factory — with a white brick 1930s facade. The restaurant’s menu lists ingredients, each of which can be ordered, in consultation with a cook/waiter, hot or cold, grilled or chilled, or, as the name has it, fire (ild in Danish) and ice (is). The only meat options are sustainable American bison and venison. Custom carts bearing produce and seafood snacks to start a meal (priced per item) patrol the dining area. The menu is à la carte with a minimum of five dishes per person ($150); some are served family-style. The 18-seat bar also serves food with no minimum requirement. Among the dishes devised by Mr. Refslund and Bryce Shuman, his chef de cuisine (who knows his way around a grill if his food at Sweetbriar, his previous gig, is any indication), are Shigoku oysters with green almonds and cucumber, venison tartare wrapped in beet rosettes, tuna lightly roasted on kombu, grilled wild duck with plum juice, grilled sea scallop dumplings, surf clam shells sealed to form a vessel and filled with clam and tomato water to drink, and smoked barbecued eel. On Sundays, meals are served family style, starting at noon, no reservations. (Opens Wednesday)
150 Green Street (Manhattan Avenue), Greenpoint, Brooklyn, ilisnyc.com.
Opening
Sorate
Suggestions of Italy are what set this new Japanese teahouse apart. It takes Japanese teas seriously, especially the various versions of green, but at the same time offers a lunch box with items like prosciutto, robiola cheese, black sesame tofu and pickled radish. It’s owned by Silvia Mella, an Italian entrepreneur, working with Keiko Kitazawa, a tea master.
103 Sullivan Street (Prince Street), sorate.co.
Side Hustle
Pub fare like steak tartare, wings, roasted baby back ribs, burgers, a crab cake, a wedge salad and tater tots define the menu at this spot by Stella Hospitality Group, better known for Italian restaurants, a couple of which are nearby. The setting is done with a deep green palette, dark wood and exposed brick. (Wednesday)
43-01 Dutch Kills Street (Jackson Avenue), Long Island City, Queens, 718-210-5481, sidehustlepub.com.
Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare
The highly rated tasting counter, which closed after the departure of the founding chef César Ramirez in July, has reopened. A pair of European chefs, Max Natmessnig and Marco Prins, who worked at the restaurant in the past, are now dishing precisely detailed plates from the sleek open kitchen. The tasting menu is $430.
431 West 37th Street, 718-243-0050, brooklynfare.com.
Paros
This newcomer, in an airy white setting that evokes the Greek Isles, features seafood, some of it imported from Greece. Other specialties include slow-roasted lamb shoulder and grilled filet mignon kebab. It is owned by George and Nicholas Pagonis, brothers who are both experienced restaurateurs.
211 West Broadway (Franklin Street), 212-519-7453, parosnyc.com.
Mari Ne
An offshoot of his Michelin-starred Mari in Hell’s Kitchen, this Korean hand-roll spot from the chef Sungchul Shim serves sets of four and five hand rolls at a 16-seat counter. Dumplings and a version of pho with Wagyu brisket are other options. Shochu, sake and makgeolli dominate the drinks list.
135 West 41st Street, marinenyc.com.
Kintsugi Omakase
This counter with 10 seats has 10-, 13- and 16-course menus ($95 to $195) from the executive chef Victor Chen, who fills his shopping bag with ingredients like smoked Spanish mackerel, Greek sea bream and a type of baby salmon called keiji. The custom gold-fused dinnerware is made by EM Ceramics and Spark Bird Studio.
28 Grand Street (Avenue of the Americas), 646-983-4616, kintsuginyc.com.
Mexi
A former garage has been turned into a corner of Mexico with faux balconies, splashes of color, iron fixtures and church pews for seating. The menu is interpretive: Tacos al pastor on skewers with pineapple, masa gnocchi, birria cauliflower steak tacos and popover churros are on offer.
149 North Ninth Street (Bedford Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, mexibk.com.
The Wooly
A handsome relocation of a cocktail lounge that was in the Woolworth Building is now in NoLIta, with reinvented classics like a dry cosmopolitan in the glass and mini-duck franks on the plate.
390 Broome Street (Mulberry Street), thewooly.com.
Bijoux Lounge
Kyky Conille, who closed his bar, Bijoux, in the meatpacking district back in 2009, has now reopened it in a new location with Dimitri Hyacinthe. Starting with caviar service to go with the drinks, the food menu will gradually expand. (Friday)
149 Mulberry Street (Grand Street), 646-922-8241.
Chinato
The space with a small free-standing bar in this new spot for drinking on the Lower East Side permits customers to schmooze easily with bartenders. There are also a few tables for food and drinks.
108 Stanton Street (Ludlow Street), 939-439-0190.
Branches
Daily Provisions
Union Square Hospitality Group’s collection of prepared food cafes has added its first Brooklyn outpost, serving its glazed crullers, sandwiches and excellent roast chicken for eat-in, takeout or delivery.
151 Court Street (Pacific Street), Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, 646-536-8080, dailyprovisionsnyc.com.
Felix Roasting Co.
This chain of coffee cafes, the only one serving items from Dominique Ansel Bakery, has added an opulently decorated SoHo location.
145 Greene Street (Houston Street), felixroastingco.com.
Chefs on the Move
Zak Pelaccio
This much-lauded chef, known for cooking driven by Southeast Asian flavors, is returning to Restaurant Kinsley in the Hotel Kinsley in Kingston, N.Y. He had inaugurated the restaurant in 2020 as consulting chef, then left during the pandemic. His reprise brings an array of new dishes, including hake a la plancha in an herbed and spiced seafood nage, wild and cultivated mushroom ragout, and Burgundian escargots in beurre rouge.
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