What’s New in New York This Spring
Springtime in New York, there’s nothing like it. Once you’ve emerged from your winter hibernation and are ready to hit the town, might WWD suggest the following?
Where to Eat Now
Raf’s
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The James Beard-nominated team behind the Michelin-starred The Musket Room have opened an Italian and French-inspired all-day cafe and bakery on Elizabeth Street called Raf’s. Jennifer Vitagliano of The Musket Room and Nicole Vitagliano are at the helm of the new restaurant, which occupies the former Parisi Bakery space. The built-in bread ovens are the focus, with mornings dedicated to pastries and evenings on hearth classics like cast iron Sicilian pizza, wood-roasted escargot, and dry-aged côte de boeuf. The Musket Room’s chefs Mary Attea and Camari Mick have both made the move, as head chef and pastry chef, respectively. Since Raf’s has begun to soft open in the past month, it’s quickly become one of downtown Manhattan’s most sought-after tables to book.
Loring Place chef Dan Kluger has joined the Hudson Yards scene. The James Beard Award-winning chef just opened Greywind, a multiconcept restaurant located on 10th Avenue. In addition to the main dining room, inspired by Hudson Valley farmhouses, there is a more intimate chefs counter experience, along with an all-day bakery and cafe and downstairs cocktail lounge. The menu is vegetable-forward and ingredient-focused. “It’s not tweezer food, it’s not super fussy, but there’s an incredible amount of flavor and a lot of attention going into it,” says Kluger, offering the sugar snap salad, which features multiple preparations of sugar snap peas, as an example. “It’s really an exploration of those ingredients and letting them not just shine, but really be the star.”
Carriage House
Flip Sigi chef and TV personality Jordan Andino has opened his first full-service restaurant in the West Village with co-owner Philip Testa, and the backing of celebrities including New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba and The Roots MC Black Thought. The intimate restaurant pays homage to Andino’s experience working in French fine dining, his Southeast Asian heritage, and international travels. Dishes include tagliatelle with truffle, wagyu skirt steak, and marinated peri peri chicken. The meal starts with bread service and a seasonal “butter candle,” lit and melted at each table.
Bad Roman
Quality Branded, behind hotspots like Don Angie and Zou Zou’s, opened Bad Roman at Columbus Circle in February. Diners have flocked to the colorful and maximalist dining room, which serves up playful whimsy — shots served in cars and a cheesecake that takes the form of lemons — alongside standard Italian fare like house-made pastas and seafood.
What to See on Broadway
Broadway has never felt as “back” since the pandemic as it does now. Here are a few favorites of what to get tickets for.
“Parade”
After a short run on Broadway in the late ’90s, the Alfred Uhry-written show made its return this spring, to both rave reviews and rabid ticket sales. Starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond as Leo and Lucille Frank, the musical tells the story of the imprisonment and lynching of a Jewish man in Georgia in 1915. “It feels almost like striking lightning when you have a company like ours, material like ours, the time of America right now,” Diamond says of the show.
“A Doll’s House”
Only through June 10, the 2023 revival of the Henrik Ibsen play stars Jessica Chastain in the lead role, in an interpretation of the work that is stripped back, modernized and intense for the entire hour-and-45-minute run time. Opposite Chastain is “Succession” actor Arian Moayed, who described the experience of working with the Oscar-winner as “dreamlike.”
“As actor nerds, she and I are having a back-to-college [experience],” he told WWD in March.
“New York, New York”
The much-anticipated new musical, now in previews, is loosely based on the 1977 Martin Scorsese film starring Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli. The Broadway version features a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, an original story by David Thompson with Sharon Washington, additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman, and takes place in 1946 as New York is trying to rebuild post-war.
“Fat Ham”
Now in performances, “Fat Ham” arrived on Broadway following a sold-out run at The Public Theater and is already a Pulitzer Prize winner. The reinvention of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is done by playwright James Ijames and director Saheem Ali and follows Juicy, a Black queer Southern college student whose father appears to him, asking him to avenge his murder.
What’s New at MoMA
After the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibit took hold of the fashion industry as the “it” show to see in New York, MoMA is ready to offer its next must-see. “Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time” will run until Aug. 12, which is the first exhibition of the legendary artist’s works on paper made in series — a lesser-known side of O’Keefe.
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