Latest news with #Neidich
Vogue
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Bar Bianchi Brings Milan Café Culture to Downtown New York City
It's hard to say whether Bar Bianchi, a new restaurant from Golden Age Hospitality—the same group behind The Nines and Le Dive—is better during the day or the night. In the afternoon, the café-style windows are thrown open as its bistro tables spill out onto the sidewalk, ready to hold gigantic Aperol spritzes in burgundy glasses. But after dark, its red and green neon sign casts a glow onto East Houston Street as negronis fly from its zinc and Formica bar, akin to a scene from Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City. 'Bar Bianchi is inspired by the piazza culture of Italy, and all these cafés and bars where you drink inside or sit outside,' Golden Age Hospitality group founder Jon Neidich tells Vogue. 'The energy between the outside and the inside kind of flows in and out.' Bar Bianchi. Photo: Liz Clayman Photo: Liz Clayman Neidich, along with his creative director Andrea Johansson and longtime collaborator Sam Buffa, was inspired by classic Milanese haunts like Bar Luce (which is owned by Prada), Bar Jamaica, and Bar Basso—'amazing places that only really exist in Europe, where you have this old world place that's stayed relevant,' he says. Indeed, hung on the walls are vintage Italian posters and the floor is composed of alternating rust, black, and white tiles; walls are painted with a faint green Venetian plaster. It feels all very '20s and '30s, until you get to the lights—space-age style scones and a 1960s hanging fixture serve as Italian modernist accents, an homage to Milan's most famous design movement. Much of the menu, overseen by chef Nicole Gajadhar, is focused on the antipasti that are the staple of aperitivo culture: think crisp fried zucchini, burrata with roasted peppers, prosciutto and melon, and fried stuffed olives. But a full dinner awaits if you wish, with dishes like a veal Milanese for two and rigatoni with a pink sauce and rigatoni with sausage, peas, and pink sauce. (Neidich named it 'Rigatoni di Nash,' as it is the favorite pasta of his young son, Nash.)
CBS News
01-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
NYC outdoor dining set to start today for 2025 season. How to find a table near you
Outdoor dining is set to start today in New York City, so find a table and some fresh air. The sheds and other structures that popped up all over the city during the COVID pandemic had to be taken down last year . But now, they've become seasonal. In order to find out which restaurants that have been approved for outdoor dining this season, it's, well, complicated. The city's Department of Transportation, which oversees the program, says a total of 2,600 restaurants have some type of approval for this season. The DOT maintains three separate lists on its website . The first is an interactive map where you can search for a restaurant's name or location to see if a license has been issued. If you search by each borough, Manhattan and Brooklyn each have 18 restaurants, Queens has seven, the Bronx has four and Staten Island doesn't have any. The second is a list of all the restaurants that applied for sidewalk dining by the August 3 deadline last year. Due to a backlog , the DOT recently announced restaurants that had cleared certain steps would receive conditional approval to operate while their applications are processed. Lastly, there is a list of restaurants that received conditional approval for roadway cafes , as of March 25. The city has several requirements for outdoor dining related to cleanliness, smoking, noise and hours. Sidewalk and roadway cafes will be allowed to operate seven days a week from April 1 to Nov. 29. Outdoor dining hours are from 10 a.m. to midnight on Sunday and 8 a.m. to midnight every other day of the week. Areas must be kept "clean, well-maintained, and clear of trash, debris, graffiti, vermin, food scraps, and unsanitary conditions," the DOT website says. Restaurants that fail to comply will be given 30 days to correct the violation before facing a $200 fine. Second and subsequent offenses face a $500 fine, and repeat offenders risk having their licenses suspended or revoked. For more information about the requirements and other resources, CLICK HERE . When Le Dive opened in 2022, it served cozy meals outside, akin to a winter cabin -- but on the Lower East Side. "We had 18 seats on the sidewalk here and roadway over here," owner Jon Neidich explained. Under the city's new Dining Out program, the restaurant is losing 25 percent of its seating and can only put tables in the confines of designated staging areas. "We are no longer allowed to have an awning, because we have a stop sign here. So we become really weather dependent," said Neidich. The onerous regulations prompted restaurants like the Empire Diner in Chelsea, which once had an iconic street structure, to not even apply. Meanwhile, the Consulate on the Upper West Side said the DOT made it remove a $20,000 vestibule but allowed it to keep some tables. "As a French American modern restaurant, I think it gives that flair," manager Tonci Antunovic said. Some say the process is inequitable -- for example, the Bronx had only 30 restaurants with outdoor dining before the pandemic, and then there were more than 600. Now, the number is back down, only eight roadway cafes are set to open in the borough. On Monday, the New York State Latino Restaurant Bar and Lounge Association stood by Assemblyman Tony Simone, who just introduced legislation that would make sure the program runs year round. "The cost is just not feasible for them -- these structures, having to remove them in November," said Sandra Jaquez, president of the NYS Latino Restaurant Bar & Lounge Association. "Our restaurants really need the space for their yearly parties Christmas parties." Further complicating matters, restaurants that want to serve liquor to outdoor dining guests could only apply for a state license to do so, once the city approved their design plans. "It's super important to be able to serve alcohol in the seats," Neidich said, adding, "When we have all the outdoor, we're able to employ another 15 to 20 people." The state Liquor Authority says it reviews most applications within seven to 10 days of receipt.
