Kitchen Dish
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
SHUTTERED The Manhattan Ocean Club (57 W 58th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-371-7777) is closing its doors January 1. The restaurant’s founder, Alan Stillman, who also is chairman and chief executive of the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, which owns the restaurant, is working on a project with his son, Michael, that they hope to open this spring.
HUE FOCUS This winter, Bao Noodles (381 Second Ave., between 22nd and 23rd streets, 212-725-7770) is featuring specials from Vietnam’s former capital, Hue. The dishes include jackfruit salad with shrimp, and “night market noodles,” which is made from thick rice noodles with sliced Vietnamese ham, bean sprouts, sweetened fish sauce, lettuce, and daikon.
The dishes are being introduced by Thao Nguyen, who is wife of chef-partner Michael Huynh, who comes from Hue.
Bao Noodles recently started taking reservations and credit cards.
NEW NAME Porcao, which was scheduled to open at the end of October, has been renamed Rio’s Churrascaria (360 Park Avenue South at 26th Street, 212-252-7080) and opened quietly last week. The food is as it was intended to be all along: traditional Brazilian all-you-can-eat roasted meats carved table-side, as well as a salad bar, for $50.90. A $22.90 option of all-you-can-eat salad plus a choice of beef, chicken, or salmon is available from noon to 4 p.m.
VEGGIE-TALES Bill Telepan is back. Around a year and a half after JUdson Grill closed (the “U” was upper-case in honor of the old telephone exchanges), he has opened Telepan (72 W. 69th St., between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West, 212-580-4300). Mr. Telepan’s approach is to use local, seasonal products and then not do too much to them – so they can showcase themselves. Menu items at the new, 110-seat restaurant include trout with buckwheat-potato blini, and duck with foie gras custard. Smaller middle courses – pastas, vegetables, egg dishes – are on offer, too.
SURE THING Tim Reardon is running the kitchen at the renovated Shoreham Restaurant and Bar (33 W 55th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-201-1108) at the also renovated Shoreham Hotel. The former chef de cuisine of Nice Matin is serving up snacks such as portobello fries with truffle oil and red miso, and sweet-and-spicy peanuts. Main courses include lobster gratin and the increasingly ubiquitous Kobe beef burgers.
Mr. Thorn is food editor of Nation’s Restaurant News. bthorn@nrn.com
