Latest news with #Rolo's
New York Times
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
A Queens Bar Becomes a Beacon for Inspired Mexican American Food
There are bodega cats, there are bookstore cats, and then there's Sabrina the restaurant jaguar. Sabrina is the life-size faux (not taxidermied) feline perched atop a tree branch like the Cheshire Cat at the back of Hellbender restaurant in Ridgewood, Queens. She's an apt spirit animal for this protean establishment and its chef, Yara Herrera. Jaguars, in Mayan mythology, have the supernatural ability to go where they like, lords of the underworld who move lithely between light and dark, life and death, and in Sabrina's case, brunch and last call. It's been open only 14 months, but Hellbender has already undergone all sorts of transitions. Ms. Herrera, who trained under Wolfgang Puck and David Chang, and her partners, who co-own the nearby restaurant Rolo's, established Hellbender first as a lighthearted cocktail bar serving Mexican-inspired snacks. The food menu was cursory but compelling — fried Oaxacan cheese sticks and shrimp cocktail with Clamato, to accompany Hennessy piña coladas and Tajín-spiked strawberry margaritas shaken well into the wee hours. When the partners noticed that food was outselling drinks, they expanded the dinner menu to showcase more of Ms. Herrera's modern Mexican American cooking, which she had honed during the pandemic at Xilonen and various pop-ups. Last month, they added weekend brunch, a lure for both families with small children and night owls looking for a hair-of-the-dog michelada. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
11-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
BKK New York Brings Thai Spins on Comfort Food to Midtown
Opening Thai street food with touches of New York (the BKK hot dog with Chiang Mai sausage, a brisket sandwich with spicy Thai beef jus, and chicken over rice made with satay chicken) has landed in Midtown West. The owners, Jeanine and Kate Royce, who had a Thai spot in Harlem, have enlisted Teerawong Nanthavatsiri, a Bangkok native, to lead the kitchen and also to deliver Thai staples like curry puffs, papaya salad, shrimp pad Thai and Kai Lan crispy pork. Bold colors and dramatic lighting enhance the 70-seat space. (Friday) 238 West 56th Street, 914-491-4289 A cup of espresso or a steaming cappuccino and, in a couple of months, a glass of wine or an aperitivo with cicchetti (Venetian snacks), have been given treatment worthy of a museum setting. The owners of this coffee shop, Jessica Tjeng and Bart Ackermans hired Almost Studio in Brooklyn for the design that reflects the geometry of Ellsworth Kelly and the light and spatial effects of James Turrell. It opened in December 2024 and is still a work in progress. For now they're serving coffees and plan to expand with a wine bar in May. The space also has an area stocked with newspapers and periodicals for those who need company with their cup. 113 Madison Street (Market Street), Branches A Uzbek shopping mecca loaded with arrays of foods from the Central Asian countries that fringe Russia's southern borders, as well as Russian and Eastern European fare, has finally made it from Brooklyn (Brighton Beach) and also Queens to Manhattan. Flaky filled samsa pastries; varieties of stuffed cabbage; dumplings including vareniky, pelmeni and manti; and plov, the layered rice and meat specialty, prepared and ready to eat, are the magnets here. There's also caviar for sure, mostly salmon but also four ounce jars labeled 'black caviar,' $67.99; and borscht, herring, mayonnaise salads, fresh meats, sausages and mountains of produce. All the food is halal. 378 Avenue of the Americas (Waverly Place). The fast-casual Chinese spot in Flatiron has a new outpost in the Hudson Eats food court at Brookfield Place. It is owned by Connie Chung and Vincent Chao, formerly with Eleven Madison Park and Make it Nice, and Milan Sekulic, an Australian who has worked in China. Dishes like Yunnan brisket, Mandarin duck, assorted wontons and Sichuan cauliflower are served from a counter in a sleek, unadorned space. It also sells homemade sauces and condiments. Hudson Eats, Brookfield Place, 230 Vesey Street (West Street), no phone, A new location of the bakery spinoff from Rolo's, an outstanding Queens restaurant, opened in Prospect Heights to instantaneous long lines. Like its Greenpoint sibling, it's run by Kelly Mencin, who was the pastry chef at Rolo's. It bakes and sells daily until the goods are gone. Highlights include a pistachio croissant, French onion soup croissant, brown butter corn cake, shakshuka focaccia slice, and sandwiches like ham with rosemary butter, and sweet peas, mint and feta. Rustic sourdough breads, like a stirato, are made from local organic flour. 186 Underhill Avenue (Sterling Place), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
