New York Restaurant Openings - Week of July 1, 2002

EDITED BY ROB PATRONITE AND ROBIN RAISFELD
Week of July 1, 2002

Vanderbilt Station If you've ever gawked at the tiled vaults in Guastavino's and the Oyster Bar, you'll recognize the familiar overhead view at Vanderbilt Station, which lies under one of Rafael Guastavino's earliest and most elaborate installations. The latest restaurant to occupy the former Vanderbilt Hotel takes its name from the subterranean stop where New York Central Railway heir Alfred G. Vanderbilt is said to have boarded his private rail car in secret, and the menu capitalizes on some Old New York nostalgia with oysters Rockefeller, Waldorf salad, and roast prime rib of beef carved tableside from a silver trolley. Chef-owner Kieran Brew and his wife, Jennifer, have a modest historical connection to the place, too: For ten years they ran Brew's, the recently shuttered saloon that Kieran's grandfather opened down the block in 1937. 4 Park Avenue, at 33rd Street 212-889-3369 · Cuisine: New-American
Fresh When Eric Tevrow lured Martin Burge from the chef de cuisine post at Gotham Bar & Grill to sign on at Fresh, his elegant new seafood restaurant, Tevrow sweetened the deal with something even better than prime Tribeca real estate: first dibs on the daily Eastern-seaboard catch, courtesy of Early Morning Seafood, Tevrow's wholesale purveyor to star chefs like Alain Ducasse and Gray Kunz. Burge makes the most of his inside sources with rillettes of gaspy cod and finnan haddie, Ipswich fried clams, "Kobe beef" of bluefin toro, and an array of whimsically named "prime cuts," like baby-back halibut ribs steamed in kelp. Fellow Gotham alum Joseph Murphy dishes up seasonal desserts like wild-strawberry shortcake and warm blueberry financier. 105 Reade Street 212-406-1900 · Cuisine: Seafood

Openings Archive

Week of June 17
Dopka, Press 195
Week of June 10
The Gowanus Yacht Club and Beer Garden
Week of June 3
Django, United Noodles, Noche, Hope & Anchor

and more ...

Photo: From top to bottom- Patrick Rytikangas; Kenneth Chen