Sartiano’s, the extremely anticipated restaurant from outstanding tastemaker Scott Sartiano’s Bond Hospitality, opens at SoHo’s Mercer Resort on Thursday. And like at Bond Hospitality’s Zero Bond, the personal membership membership that’s been frequented by Eric Adams, Tom Brady and Kim Kardashian, the main focus is on making an enduring impression in downtown New York.
Sartiano believes there could be no level in opening this Italian restaurant, which channels his household’s Naples roots and boasts acclaimed chef Alfred Portale as its culinary director, if he didn’t see the potential to create a “legacy” right here.
“If I don’t suppose one thing will be iconic, I don’t need to do it,” Sartiano informed Observer. “I need to construct one thing that turns into a part of the material of New York Metropolis. I don’t open issues simply to open issues.”
Portale and govt chef Chris Lewnes, with enter from Sartiano, have put collectively a menu with each Italian classics and Italian-American riffs.
Meals at Sartiano’s can begin with caviar cannolis, yellowfin tuna crudo and fritto misto, earlier than primary programs like paccheri with Sunday sauce (brief rib, sausage and housemade meatballs), veal Milanese, hen Parm and deeply marbled, olive-fed wagyu porterhouses. Company who need lighter dishes have choices together with scallop crudo, artichoke salad, branzino, salmon and mushroom lasagna.
The sizable restaurant can accommodate about 130 folks. That isn’t counting the small upstairs cafe for walk-ins and extra informal meals, with pizza and pasta. There are plans to place a cart with gelato and Italian ices on the nook of Prince and Mercer Avenue, and Sartiano’s can also be serving the foyer and visitor rooms on the Mercer Resort.
When you’re questioning whether or not the hospitality mogul, who beforehand co-founded scorching spots comparable to 1 OAK, Butter and The Darby, desires his new restaurant to morph right into a nightclub at sure moments, the reply is an emphatic no.
“No, by no means,” the 48-year-old Sartiano stated. “I’m too previous for that. I am going to mattress too early. I can’t stand the loud music. I sound like an previous grandpa when folks begin asking about nightlife. Now I’m like, who places a DJ in a restaurant?”
There’s a distinct kind of glamorous downtown historical past Sartiano desires to rejoice on the Mercer Resort, in a restaurant house that beforehand housed Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Mercer Kitchen. Underneath the management of each the revered Vongerichten and his free-spirited protégé Kerry Simon, that vacation spot turned a downtown fixture that merged top-tier meals with a full of life scene.
“It’s a nook in New York that’s just like the epicenter of downtown New York, not only for at this time however in all probability for the previous 25 years, because the resort opened and the restaurant opened,” Sartiano stated of his restaurant’s storied location. “So there’s the notice of what’s occurred within the final 25 years, and attempting to string the needle of preserving the previous alive whereas making one thing new for the subsequent 25 years.”
Fittingly, Sartiano’s already hosted Chanel’s Met Gala afterparty this yr. The primary occasion ever on the Mercer, Sartiano factors out, was a Chanel occasion that occurred simply earlier than the resort opened in 1997.
Three-time James Beard Award winner Portale, who ran Gotham Bar & Grill for 35 years and now serves Italian delicacies on the eponymous Portale Restaurant, additionally is aware of just a few issues about downtown New York’s historical past.
Sartiano’s, which formally opens on Thursday, June 15, is a restaurant that’s concurrently about Italian-American nostalgia and a brand new path ahead. The restaurant balances consolation and refinement, as Sartiano thinks fondly about formative style reminiscences just like the meatballs and veal Milanese his mother made. Sartiano has a keenness for sausage and peppers, which resulted in Portale and Lewnes making a pork chop dish with peppers, onions and the same taste profile. The forthcoming avenue cart with gelato and Italian ices will remind Sartiano of the enjoyment he felt when his dad and mom, who’re each from Brooklyn, used to take him out for dessert.
Sartiano is thought for unique venues, and there’s little doubt that his new restaurant can be a troublesome reservation, and that its personal eating room can be in excessive demand. However that is additionally a resort restaurant with plans to open for breakfast and lunch later this month, so he’s occupied with tips on how to steadiness exclusivity with accessibility.
“We need to design one thing that’s a match for essentially the most vital New York foodie, but in addition might cater to the Parisian vacationer who’s buying within the neighborhood, “ Sartiano stated.
“There’s a really elevated ambiance, from the Carrara marble bar to the wine lockers. It’s open to the general public, however we’re nonetheless going to curate the gang. When you’re a Zero Bond member or associates or household of mine, you’re positively anticipating to frequent the restaurant. So it is going to be as unique as a restaurant will be, however we even have the cafe for individuals who don’t have reservations.”
And being in SoHo, the place folks exit later for dinner (even when Sartiano himself would like being asleep), implies that extra friends can expertise Sartiano’s. It is a neighborhood the place you’ll be able to eat effectively and absorb an brisk vibe at 11 p.m., whether or not you’re on the new Torrisi (arguably town’s hottest restaurant), Balthazar or Blue Ribbon.
“I’ve been in New York for over 30 years,” Sartiano stated. “SoHo is all the time the place to go late-night for dinner, for high-quality eating. It’s humorous. As I’ve gotten older, I wish to go to dinner at 7. However I bear in mind all the time going downtown for dinner, and 9:30 and 10 o’clock was regular. The Mercer Kitchen was nearly like a 24-hour-a-day restaurant. It was busy on a regular basis, busy late. We positively need to encourage folks to come back have later dinners right here. We’re going to remain open so long as we’re busy. I positively anticipate to have 10, 10:30, 11 o’clock seatings.”
