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Off the menu
Murray’s Opens a Mac-and-Cheese Restaurant in the West Village
Sushi in a NoMad hotel, an upscale Mexican restaurant in East Harlem, and other restaurant news.
Headliner
Murray’s Mac & Cheese
Murray’s has a cheese store that also sells charcuterie and condiments on this busy West Village block, and, a few doors down, Murray’s Cheese Bar, serving wine and a cheese-friendly menu. Now, in an empty storefront, formerly Amy’s Bread, on the same block, the company has opened a macaroni and cheese restaurant. It’s a counter-service spot, with 20 seats, featuring a build-your-own menu. Start with a bowl of pasta cooked with cheese and other ingredients, then add other cheeses, vegetables, meats, sauces and toppings, all in four possible portion sizes (snack to family). Classic, barbecue, French onion and Buffalo chicken are among the style and flavor options. The pastas — all radiatori — are made by Sfoglini, a pasta company in upstate New York. There’s also a breakfast mac and cheese made with sausage, bacon, egg and Cheddar that’s served only on Saturdays and Sundays.
254 Bleecker Street (Leroy Street), 212-243-3289, ext. 350, murrayscheese.com.
Opening
Sushi by Bou NoMad
With eight seats at a lobby counter, this is the second location in Hotel 3232 for this sushi restaurant offering 30-minute, 10-piece omakases for $50. The timed seatings are an idea hatched by David Bouhadana (who has come under criticism for speaking English with a Japanese accent and will not be working behind the counter at either spot) and Simple Venue, a company that sets up and runs dining nooks in somewhat-hidden “speakeasy” spaces. A four-seat sushi bar for 60-minute omakase is already on the hotel’s 10th floor. This opening is the fourth Manhattan location, with another coming soon at 118 East 15th Street. There’s also one tucked into the Versace Mansion in Miami Beach.
Hotel 3232, 32 East 32nd Street (Madison Avenue), sushibybou.com.
Sushi Lab
There is already a sushi restaurant in the Sanctuary Hotel, but these days, so as not to let the merest broom closet go to waste, an unaffiliated eight-seat sushi operation has been installed in the hotel’s lobby. It also promises a 10-piece omakase for $50. Frankie Chen, the chef, will be putting a personal spin on the food, with selections like smoky miso soup and a uni macaron. (Opens Thursday)
Sanctuary Hotel, 132 West 47th Street (Seventh Avenue), 212-432-0000, sushilab.nyc.
El Paso Restaurante
Rodrigo Abrajan, a native of Puebla, Mexico, has opened an upscale Mexican restaurant. His first East Harlem venture, a taco and ceviche bar also called El Paso, has closed, and this new restaurant, decorated with Mexican artwork and specializing in moles, is now his focus.
123 East 110th Street (Park Avenue), 212-831-9831, elpasony.com.
Café D’Avignon
The bread company, Pain D’Avignon, which was established in 1992 and sold its European-style breads wholesale, opened its first retail counter in 2010 in the Essex Street Market, followed by other food halls. Now it has added a free-standing store in Midtown Manhattan, selling breads, pastries, sandwiches, quiches, salads and coffee to eat at a small counter or take away.
485 Seventh Avenue (36th Street), 646-449-0954, cafedavignon.com.
Chefs on the Move
Laurent Gras
The esteemed chef, who joined Joshua Skenes’ Saison in San Francisco last summer, has become its executive chef and a partner. Before Saison, Mr. Gras worked for Alain Ducasse and Guy Savoy in his native France, as well as at Peacock Alley in New York. He went on to open L20 in Chicago, which was awarded three Michelin stars shortly before it closed in 2014. Mr. Skenes remains the owner and a partner in Saison, which also has three Michelin stars, but he is stepping away from the day-to-day operations to devote his time to his Angler restaurants and Skenes Ranch, on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, a hunting and fishing lodge and a school, with limited availability to the public.
Looking Ahead
M. Wells Steakhouse
With their Dinette in MoMA PS1 closing, Hugue Dufour and Sarah Obraitis, the owners, are planning to turn a playroom attached to their nearby steakhouse, which occupies a repurposed auto body shop, into something they’ll call the Ostrich Room, destined for gastronomy and glamour. But Dinette is not quietly slipping away. On Thursday at 4 p.m. for the closing, they will parade their oyster cart from that location to its new home at the steakhouse, accompanied by a brass band.
43-15 Crescent Street (43rd Avenue), Long Island City, Queens, 718-786-9060, magasinwells.com.
An earlier version of this article, using information from a publicist, misstated the location of Sushi Lab. While it is in the Sanctuary Hotel's lobby, it is not installed in a former concierge desk.
Florence Fabricant is a food and wine writer. She writes the weekly Front Burner and Off the Menu columns, as well as the Pairings column, which appears alongside the monthly wine reviews. She has also written 12 cookbooks.
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