L.A. import Katsuya and S Bar have opened in Citizens New York at Manhattan West (398 10th Ave.), from Disruptive Restaurant Group behind places such as Alvin Cailan’s Umami Burger. Named for chef Katsuya Uechi, the restaurant has cultivated a following as a celebrity magnet. The NYC location features a 400-seat dining room and rooftop bar that’s part of the food hall. Before New York debuted, Katsuya opened locations in Las Vegas, South Beach, Dubai, Kuwait, and the Bahamas. With a menu of sushi and sashimi, hot starters, main dishes, and robata offerings, signature dishes include crispy rice, yellowtail sashimi, albacore sashimi with crispy onion, as well as dishes he’ll only serve in the New York location like toban beef, Manhattan maki, and more.
Saigon Social (172 Orchard St., Manhattan) opened over the weekend; the pop-up turned take-out spot is now a full-service restaurant from Helen Nguyen and partner Jennifer Saesue (Fish Cheeks). With 42 seats, the restaurant will offer dishes like oxtail fried rice, a banh mi burger, garlic noodles with shrimp, turmeric dill fish, and beef pho.
Jaz Indian Cuisine (813 9th Ave., Manhattan) opens Wednesday from Jaz Rupall, a former exec-turned restaurateur from Hertfordshire, England. When she and her husband were relocated to New York, she decided to open an Indian restaurant with a focus on Northern Indian cuisine with the help of the director of operations, Syed Haider. Co-executive chefs Bachan Rawat (Bukhara Grill) and Arif Ahmed (Bombay Grill, Sapphire) run the kitchen. The dining room seats 48 inside and 20 outside.
NYC’s iconic El Quijote has reopened in the Hotel Chelsea (226 W. 23rd St., Manhattan), now operated by Sunday Hospitality (behind Sunday in Brooklyn) and partner, Charles Seich. The original had closed in 2018 after an 88-year run. You’ll still be greeted by the restaurant’s signature mural, while other aspects of the original dining room have also been restored.
Cooking comes by way of Jaime Young of Sunday Hospitality in collaboration with chef de cuisine, Byron Hogan, who cooked for a 12-year stint in Madrid. Diners can still order the classic paella and sangria, as well as preserved tuna with leeks and tomatoes, grilled hake with piquillo peppers, squid and morcilla, and more.
Our very own John McDonald opened Bar Tulix (25 W. Houston St., Manhattan) with chef Justin Bazdarich, owner of Brooklyn’s Michelin-starred Oxomoco and Speedy Romeo. “As the third act in a Mexican trilogy for both parties (Dos Caminos and El Toro Blanco for McDonald),” writes Resy, “Bar Tulix is an exciting new addition to Mexican cuisine in the city, a place where salsa-spiced seafood towers and masa-battered whole fish collide.” Check out the menu and read more about it, here and here.