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Something Curated highlights the most exciting new and recently launched restaurants and dining events to try in New York this August, taking a closer look at the founders and proprietors behind the promising food offerings.

 

West Village, Manhattan

Llamita || Erik Ramirez

Chef Erik Ramirez, co-founder of Llama Inn, the popular Peruvian restaurant in Williamsburg, has launched a more casual offshoot where specialties like Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken are sold to eat in or to takeaway. Sandwiches made with beef, chicken, pork, seafood, vegetables or duck sausage are stuffed in crisp, yet fluffy rolls. Causa, a layered potato dish with chicken, and skewered beef heart anticucho are some of the other items on the menu. Smoothies incorporate tropical fruits, and Peruvian pre-packaged items are also on offer.

80 Carmine Street, New York, NY 10014

 

Katana Kitten || Masahiro Urushido, James Tune, Greg Boehm & Nick Sorrentino

The team behind Japanese bar Katana Kitten comprises the talented Masahiro Urushido, who last ran the bar at Saxon + Parole, and Cocktail Kingdom Hospitality’s James Tune and Greg Boehm. Cocktail Kingdom culinary director Nick Sorrentino oversees the Greenwich Village bar’s food offering, which is split three ways, between appetisers like nori crinkle cut fries; skewers, including a kakuni rillette with karashi aïoli; and a few sandwiches.

531 Hudson Street, New York, NY, 10014

 

Hao Noodle Chelsea || Zhu Rong

Hao Noodle and Tea’s new location in Chelsea is focused on food designed to accompany drinking, with dishes such as eggplant with fish sauce and beef short ribs with pineapple in black pepper sauce on offer, among a menu of enticing small plates. Inside, plants overflow the restaurant, especially in the garden room, which is drenched in sunlight during the daytime from the large skylight above. And at the front of the eatery, an open kitchen and high countertops dominate.

343 West 14th Street, New York, New York 10014

 

East Village, Manhattan

886 || Eric Sze & Andy Chuang

Eric Sze, Tang co-founder, and partner Andy Chuang are behind restaurant 886. The new project combines Sze’s Taiwanese upbringing with current American trends to make a decidedly playful menu that is focused on stir-fries. Sze explains the flavour profiles are largely familiar, and classic dishes like the oyster omelette or pineapple and shrimp do not stray from tradition. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s a tongue-in-cheek take on the fried chicken sandwich at McDonald’s in Taiwan, which Sze grew up eating.

26 St Marks Place, New York, NY 10003

 

Lower East Side / Little Italy

The Usual || Alvin Cailan

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmMKobOnmF8/?taken-by=theusual_nyc

After over a year of various pop-ups, Eggslut chef Alvin Cailan has finally gotten his very own New York City restaurant. The Usual has launched at the Nolitan Hotel, at 30 Kenmare St., where the popular Los Angeles chef serves immigrant-inspired comfort food. Fried chicken, a burger, flatbreads, and a chocolate cake are all on the menu, which he hopes will maintain a neighbourhood feel. Cailan is also collaborating with his brother Anthony, who’s in charge of the drinks, including wines from more than 150 winemakers.

30 Kenmare Street, New York, New York 10012

 

Chefs Club New York Presents: Fat Rice NYC || Abraham Conlon (13 Aug–13 Oct)

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkiadu4AvOj/?hl=en&taken-by=eatfatrice

Starting August 13, Chefs Club welcomes its next Chef-in-Residence, Abraham Conlon of cult favourite Fat Rice in Chicago. The award-winning chef draws upon the vibrant cuisine of Macau, with a menu rooted in the culinary traditions of Portugal and China but exploring ideas, inspiration, and ingredients from all along the historic Portuguese spice trade routes. Conlon will bring these far-flung flavours to Nolita with an a la carte menu featuring shareable small plates and larger-format, family-style dishes. Meanwhile, the private dining room will be transformed into The Ladies’ Room, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar that recalls the 19th century opium dens of Macau’s red-light district.

275 Mulberry Street, New York, New York 10012

 

Redhook, Brooklyn

Ample Hills Creamery || Brian Smith & Jackie Cuscuna

Ice cream specialists Ample Hills now has an enormous factory, museum, and store in Red Hook. Founders Smith and Cuscuna explain: “We are as much of a bakery as we are a dairy plant. We spend an equal amount of time baking and boiling as we do pasteurizing and churning. From our housemade peppermint patties, to our honeycomb candy, to our pistachio brittle, munchie mix and brownies; we create it all in our kitchen and generously add them to our ice cream. Our goal is to invite people to celebrate and engage in the story of ice cream through our experiential and interactive approach.”

421 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231

 

Hudson, Upstate New York

Play With Fire || Zak Pelaccio, Elise Kornack, Jess Shadbolt, Clare de Boer, Negro Piattoni & Sam Mason (11 Aug)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmN9B5sBrv4/?hl=en&taken-by=zakarypelaccio

Looking for a good reason to get out of the city on 11 August? Head up to Hudson, where from 3-9pm Zak Pelaccio will host a live-fire cooking event at his Fish & Game farm. Hosted in combination with reservation app Resy and Ketel One, Play With Fire will bring an excellent cadre of cooks together including Elise Kornack, formerly of Take Root; King’s Jess Shadbolt and Clare de Boer; Metta’s Negro Piattoni; and Oddfellows’ Sam Mason. The food will be cooked on one-of-a-kind apparatuses created by sculptor Kris Perry, with Pelaccio’s help, and there will be performances by Club d’Elf and others.

13 South 3rd Street, Hudson, New York 12534

 

Feature image via 886

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