“I used to always joke that I was a chef and that now I just make chilled soup,” says the renowned bartender Sother Teague.
At a time when NYC bars are required to sell food along with drink orders, Teague is now wearing both hats simultaneously as Reserve by Amor y Amargo reopens today. The East Village bar, located at 95 Avenue A, at East Sixth Street, opened in November 2020 but shut down shortly after the city mandated an indoor dining ban for the second time during the pandemic and it hasn’t been open since December. It’s a rare sight, but Teague is the head bartender and executive chef behind the reservations only, prix-fixe ($120) menu featuring five cocktails and four plant-based dishes.
A Running List of New Restaurants That Opened in New York City, April 2021
A Korean-Cajun delivery restaurant, a source for Oaxacan moles in Astoria, and more openings this month
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Clay Williams/Eater
More than one year into the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants across the city continue to move forward with openings, sometimes because their concepts could be adapted for takeout and delivery, but more often because their owners saw no other choice but to forge ahead. Since March 16, 2020, when the state first temporarily closed indoor dining, hundreds of new restaurants have opened their doors. This list of pandemic-born businesses includes restaurants serving Korean-Cajun gumbo, vegan soul food, late-night bites, and bowls of Taiwanese noodle soup.
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On Valentine’s Day, vegan restaurateur Ravi DeRossi will open three new restaurants in New York City for special ticketed dinner events. Under his vegan restaurant and bar company Overthrow Hospitality, DeRossi will launch vegan Southern and soul food concept Cadence, which on Valentine’s Day will offer a multi-course selection of dishes from Chef Shenarri Greens, including palm cakes, jerk mac and cheese, and Southern fried lasagna, along with wine from Black-owned wineries. Vegan Mexican concept Etérea from Chef Xila Caudillo will offer a multi-course dinner with dishes such as Corn Rib Elote, tamales, and cauliflower rancheros, along with a tequila-and-mezcal-driven cocktail menu. And lastly, vegan pasta bar Soda Club will offer a multi-course pasta-tasting menu by Chef Amira Gharib and sparkling wine on Valentine’s Day. On the same day, New York City plans to reopen indoor dining at 25 percent capacity, so the ticketed events will occur indoors.
Chicago
poured into one, including dark
(and deadly) rum, freshly-squeezed juices, and an insane tiki mug.
At
Three Dots and A Dash, tiki drinks light up the retro Polynesian-island lounge beneath Chicago’s buzzy Clark Street. Literal flaming tiki drinks, crafted with one or more of its 200+ bottled rums, are served in mortal mugs customized for the tropical bar’s Signature Series
(of collectible glassware). The limited-edition Fijian Mermaid tiki mug – in cobalt blue and teal colors – was chiseled by Tiki Farm and sits for sale, at $60.00, in the online “Mug Shop.”
Story told is The Fijian Mermaid
(sometimes referred to as Feejee or Fiji Mermaid) was a hoax promoted by P.T. Barnum in the 1840s as a sideshow gaff. The odd-looking creature was presented to spectators as a mummified “half-mammal, half-fish” wonder, but in reality, it was the torso of a monkey sewn to the tail of a fish… and is typically full of spirit.