Headliner
Weill Café
Yes, we know, you get to Carnegie Hall with “practice, practice.” And once you get there, starting Saturday for dinner and Monday for breakfast, lunch and coffee, you can have something to eat. On Monday, the new Weill Café, occupying the stately, cream-colored room, recently renovated with gold and burgundy accents, that has long been serving snacks and drinks during intermissions, will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. Breakfast items, coffee and tea, soups, salads, quiches, sandwiches and pastries will be available, and there is a bar. It will have a street entrance, so a concert ticket is not required. That’s not the case when it comes to preconcert dining however. Those with tickets to select performances in the Stern Auditorium can book tables starting at 6 p.m. for a three-course dinner, $139 including unlimited beverages, tax and service. An initial menu by the executive chef, Derek Prough, working for Constellation Culinary Group, which is running the cafe, includes burrata with vegetables, citrus and beet carpaccio with shrimp, seared branzino, glazed short rib, roasted acorn squash tower, and dessert bites like chocolate lava cakes and apple-spice Bundt cakes. The cafe area will be open to concertgoers during intermissions. (Opens Jan. 20, 22)
154 West 57th Street, 212-424-2032, carnegiehall.org.
Opening
Madame Tea Sweet House
Afternoon tea with the flavors of Thailand is now being served from 2 to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays at this Thai spot that opened last month in Queens. It’s owned by Annie Phinphantthakul, a chef, and her pastry chef daughter, Ginger Phinphantthakul, and was inspired by memories of tea they shared at the Plaza hotel in Manhattan. The tea service, $39.99, includes savories like Thai curry puffs, chicken dumplings and green curry chicken salad sandwiches. Sweets include khanom chan made with pandan and coconut, as well as Western confections like macarons, fruit tartlets and cupcakes. The restaurant also has an à la carte Thai menu and a tasting menu, “Thaimakase,” with eight dishes, $89.99, is available by reservation only.
63-19 Woodside Avenue (63rd Street) Woodside, Queens, 718-651-6888.
Corima
Fidel Caballero, a former sous chef at Contra and, before that, a cook at Martin Berasategui in Spain, has opened this showcase for the food of Northern Mexico, notably the Chihuahua area, with his wife, Sofia Ostos, and Vince Ott, the general manager. Mr. Caballero is from that area, both Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas. His menu has sourdough flour tortillas, duck enmoladas in a black garlic mole and an adobo pork collar with quince and sunchoke purée. A tuna mille-feuille with sea lettuce and chicharrón furikake, and a potato udon with cuttlefish draw on his experiences in France and Asia. In addition to the à la carte menu there’s a $98 tasting menu. The beverage list includes Mexican spirits like sotol and raicilla, from Northern Mexico. The room, done in desert tones with tiles and exposed brick, includes a chef’s counter facing the kitchen where the tasting menu is served.
3 Allen Street (Canal Street), 915-408-0578, corimanyc.com.
Dot’s
Mandy Oser, the owner of the Hell’s Kitchen wine bar Ardesia, has opened this daytime cafe across the street. (Her mother’s name was Dorothy.) The chef at Ardesia, Amorette Casaus, has come up with sandwiches like smoked ham with herbed feta, a take on a sabich, and a breakfast combination of eggs with sausage, cheese and tomato jam. A fonio bowl with vegetables is also available, as are soups and pastries. There’s a pantry area with fresh and prepared foods, and seating for 30. It’s open from morning until early evening.
515 West 52nd Street, 212-365-6640, dotscafenyc.com.
