Build it and they will come. That might as well have been the 2008 mantra for a once quality cuisine–starved Upper West Side, ever the wasteland of bland cookie-cutter restaurants catering to the stroller set. But oh, how the linen-bedecked tables have turned, as this year marked the neighborhood’s true transformation into a gastronome’s playground.
True, the makings of a foodie-friendly nabe were always there: the gourmet markets (Fairway, Zabar’s, Citarella), the well-versed residents (Tim Zagat, Gael Greene, Frank Bruni, Ruth Reichl). But this year’s surge of quality restaurants affirmed that good eats in the Upper West are no longer limited to a supermarket shelf. Behold just how the Upper West was won.
Old faces, new places
You know you’ve finally made it when an industry stalwart like Daniel Boulud moves in: Last January, the four-star chef set up shop across from Lincoln Center with his casual, charcuterie-centric bistro Bar Boulud. It was only a matter of time before others followed: Jeffrey Chodorow got a (eco-) conscience with Center Cut, a green-leaning steakhouse at the Empire Hotel; Barbuto’s Jonathan Waxman traded pasta for pan-roasted crab cakes at Southern-comfort-tinged Madaleine Mae; and Ed Witt, who once worked under Boulud at his flagship Daniel, opened modern American spot Bloomingdale Road, taking with him another cue from his predecessor: a chef’s table with a six-course tasting menu.
Been around the block
UWS conquistador Tom Valenti was an early pioneer back in 2001 when he opened Ouest, followed by ‘Cesca in 2003. His latest addition: the elegant West Branch, with its Euro-flecked American fare. Yet another area veteran, John Fraser, formerly of Compass, returned with his own New American spot, Dovetail, on 77th Street, to rave reviews. Then there were a few familiar faces to the ‘hood: Both Ed Brown, who opened modern American joint Eighty One, and Cesare Casella, whose Italian meat market–cum–enoteca Salumeria Rosi carries on the Maremma tradition, are also proud residents of the UWS—as is Tom Valenti. Coincidence? We think not.
Seeing double
Following the lead of Mermaid Inn in 2007, downtown fixtures continued to open uptown outposts, beginning with a sugar rush to a bigger, better (no cupcake limit!) Magnolia Bakery. Pizza by the Inch, which shuttered on Park Avenue, joined forced with East Village mac-and-cheese emporium S’mac to become super-spinoff Pinch and S’mac. Shake Shack’s mile-long lines from Madison Square Park migrated up to Columbus Avenue—with the welcome addition of indoor seating (and two new nabe-appropriate sweet flavors). And although its original location was on the Upper East Side, Belgian bistro B Café West saw Brussels sprout across the park.
Protégés with pedigree
A pair of well-pedigreed chefs are primed to hit their stride on the UWS at the helm of their new kitchens. There’s Vincent Chirico, who’s worked under a who’s who of chefs (Marcus Samuelsson, Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges) and now flies solo at Italian-Mediterranean spot Vai. Over at Campo, a casual and contemporary Italian trattoria, David Rotter, who studied under Terrance Brennan (Artisanal, Picholine), has earned fans for crispy grilled pizzas he perfected at Gonzo while working for the late, great Vinny Scotto.
East meets West
No longer satisfied with eating pork fried rice out of a takeout carton, Upper West Siders now have a spate of haute Asian eateries with highly skilled hands at the helm. Michael Bao Huyhn (Bao 111, BUN) has replaced former pan-Asian mainstay Rain with what’s destined to become a Vietnamese mainstay in BarBao, while the folks behind Room Service (the restaurant, not the scenester club) bring their Bangkok-centric food to Sookk. Still to come: the much-anticipated (and delayed) Fatty Crab Uptown, which Zak Pelaccio promises will have the same menu as its Meatpacking District sibling.
Chain reaction
Of course, no neighborhood can stave off the infiltration of evolved fast-food chains. Or a Pinkberry (indeed, this year alone the Upper West got two locations of the frozen-yogurt monolith). Or a Pinkberry competitor, for that matter, as is the case with Peaches Natural Yogurt Café, which offers a low-cal knockoff. Empanada Joe’s kicked off its rapid expansion with a branch on Broadway, and burgeoning international falafel franchise Maoz Vegetarian set up shop, ironically next to a McDonald’s, which looks like a relic of a regrettable era gone by.
Photo by Sam Horine
