Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Off the Menu

Brasserie With an Eye on Expansion Takes Root in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn

Lisa Brefere, left, the culinary director of KarVér Hospitality, with KarVér’s executive chef, Rostislav Kemelman, at the first location of the company’s brasserie and bakery cafe to open, in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.Credit...James Estrin/The New York Times

KARVÉR BRASSERIE AND BAKERY CAFÉ KarVér Hospitality, a new restaurant company owned by a group of investors and the chef Lisa Brefere, the Culinary Institute of America graduate behind the food programs at Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum, isn’t starting small. This 4,800-square-foot Brooklyn restaurant is the first of several projects for which Ms. Brefere is the culinary director. A sleek, modernized brasserie with an open kitchen and seats for 120, it also has a separate retail bakery and cafe. The company’s executive chef, Rostislav Kemelman, who worked at restaurants owned by Bobby Flay, April Bloomfield and Shelly Fireman, relies on local purveyors whenever possible, and the restaurant proudly lists more than a dozen. The menu includes dishes like bouillabaisse, pot-au-feu, salmon choucroute and French onion soup. Lighter fare, like a croque-monsieur and various tartines, will also be served. In the fall, there will be a bigger KarVér (pronounced kar-VAIR) opening in Chelsea, and another in Downtown Brooklyn. Ms. Brefere said the location for the company’s first restaurant was chosen because many of the investors were Russian-Americans with roots in the neighborhood. “It also makes for a good testing ground for the launch before we go into Manhattan,” she said. (Opens Wednesday): 1809 Emmons Avenue (19th Street), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, 718-521-2777, karver.com.

FAIRFAX Gabriel Stulman wasted no time in turning Perla into an all-day cafe that starts with breakfast and becomes a wine bar just before noon. The Perla chef Jack Harris is still in the kitchen, but he’s now preparing casual Mediterranean fare, mostly as small plates ($20 with a glass of wine until 7 p.m.). The décor is homey, like someone’s living room, if that living room also had a bar and a communal table: 234 West Fourth Street (West 10th Street), 212-933-1824, fairfax.nyc.

GOLDA All-day dining from breakfast to early supper is what Danny Nusbaum, whose family owns Pick a Bagel, is offering at this cafe bearing his grandmother’s first name. Sandwiches, small plates and a few more substantial dishes combining Middle Eastern and American flavors dominate the menu. (Thursday): 504 Franklin Avenue (Fulton Street), Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, 718-484-7065, goldakitchen.com.

JEAN-GEORGES AT THE CONNAUGHT The unstoppable Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who once opened a branch of his Asian restaurant, Vong, in London, has returned to the city with a brightly windowed restaurant that’s about as casual as one can get in high-end London. It’s open from breakfast through dinner, offering dishes that highlight English ingredients with some signature Asian touches. It also offers a proper afternoon tea: The Connaught, Carlos Place, Mayfair, London, 011-44-207-107-8861.

P.S. KITCHEN This might be the ultimate feel-good restaurant. The food, from the executive chef Gary Barawidan, is all plant-based, with specialties like ginger rice congee, fennel tartine and a veggie burger. The owners, Craig Cochran and Jeffrey LaPadula, will donate all profits to charities with a mission to reduce poverty like the Doe Fund and Share Hope: 246 West 48th Street, 212-651-7247, ps-kitchen.com.

SHAKE SHACK This weekend, a pop-up Shake Shack will take over a counter on the patio of the E.M.P. Summer House, the Eleven Madison Park seasonal restaurant in East Hampton. The outdoor menu will include the ShackBurger, a bacon double cheeseburger and a couple of special beachy items like the ClamBurger, a cheeseburger topped with fried clams, and the Lobster Shack, a hamburger topped with lobster in a take on surf and turf: Friday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., E.M.P. Summer House, 341 Pantigo Road (Spring Close Highway), East Hampton, N.Y., shakeshack.com, empsummerhouse.com.

AU CHEVAL Brendan Sodikoff, the chief executive of the Chicago restaurant group Hogsalt Hospitality, which opened 4 Charles Prime Rib in the West Village this year, has confirmed that he is bringing a branch of the group’s Au Cheval to New York. Au Cheval, which bills itself as a diner but looks more like a tavern, is best known for its burgers. It will have 75 seats, he said, and will share the space with a coffee bar. He expects it to open next year in late summer: 79 Walker Street (Cortlandt Alley).

BOQUERIA In late fall, Yann de Rochefort will be opening his fifth Boqueria in New York, the biggest one yet, in a hotel near Times Square: 260 West 40th Street.

SMORG SQUARE A generous lot that borders SoHo and TriBeCa will become a Smorgasburg later this month. Eric Demby, a founder and developer of the Smorgasburg markets, expects that it will be able to remain open a good part of the year, weekdays as well as weekends. He has lined up 20 vendors. Some will be more or less permanent, others pop-ups, including C Bao Asian Buns (Chinese), Ramen Burger, Bon Chovie (anchovies) and Red Hook Lobster Pound: 76 Varick Street (Canal Street, Grand Street), smorgasburg.com.

ANDY BENNETT, the executive chef at Rouge Tomate, has left, a few weeks ahead of the departure this month of Pascaline Lepeltier, the beverage director. Mr. Bennett has been replaced by Alan Wise, who was the sous-chef at the restaurant’s former Upper East Side location for three years.

Follow NYT Food on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Get regular updates from NYT Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section D, Page 4 of the New York edition. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT