Headliner

Café Boulud

What a difference a few blocks can make. The original Café Boulud, an Upper East Side neighborhood hangout and destination since 1998, has moved south about half a mile to an area where its customers are likely to be driven more by destination. It’s now installed in a somewhat grander setting near the Plaza Hotel and amid a coterie of other French restaurants. Still, those who know and love the restaurant will recognize the menu; it’s divided in quadrants addressing Le Voyage, La Saisons, Potager and La Tradition, with seasonal updates for each. Right now expect to be tempted by short ribs, crabmeat, mushrooms, sunchokes and desserts sparkling with citrus. The executive chef is Romain Paumier, who worked at the original Café Boulud and was the executive sous chef at Mr. Boulud’s flagship, Daniel. He’s the latest in a kitchen that, over the years, has been an incubator for names like Andrew Carmellini, Gavin Kaysen and Aaron Bludorn. Katalina Diaz, formerly the executive sous chef for pastry at Daniel, is the executive pastry chef. Of all his restaurants, this is the one to which Mr. Boulud is most deeply attached, given that his great-grandparents opened a Café Boulud 100 years ago near Lyon, France, his hometown. The new Café Boulud, designed by Jeffrey Beers, moves into the space that previously housed Vaucluse and before that Park Avenue Cafe, Périgord Park and Voisin. Now with pale gray walls that echo the color of the recently redone Daniel nearby, the new Café Boulud has artwork, traditional detailing, velvet and leather seating in deep teal blue and amber; the space beckons with airy comfort, as yet another reaffirmation that fine dining is sticking around. There are a number of other spaces, including a bar that will open in February, and a series of elegant salons opening in the spring that will be the New York headquarters for Maison Barnes, an international realty company based in Paris, and Mr. Boulud’s new partner. (Opens Friday)

100 East 63rd Street, 212-721-2600, cafeboulud.com.

Opening

Acadia

Something of a revolving door over the past few years, this high-visibility corner of 57th Street and Sixth Avenue is now Mediterranean with a Levantine focus. Hunks of vegetables like cauliflower and winter squash can be seen bronzing on a rotisserie in the open kitchen while duck cassoulet with merguez sausage, roasted lamb neck, black bass tagine, and Yemeni kubaneh bread bake in a taboon oven. Eggplant carpaccio, braised leeks, shrimp tempura and potato gnocchi with mushrooms are also on the executive chef Ari Bokovza’s menu. Brass accents give the room a touch of brasserie style. The multifaceted Chef Driven Hospitality, run by Simon Oren, is in charge. (Wednesday)

101 West 57th Street, 212-377-7170, acadianyc.com.

Cecily

There’s an emphasis on vegetables with dishes like brussels sprouts with apple and Parmesan, and butter beans with braised collards, at this newcomer in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The chef, Zach Frieling, previously worked at Jupiter and the Four Horsemen. The owners of this, their first restaurant, are the sommelier Kristin Ma, whose wine list tilts offbeat, and Tara Noble, whose résumé includes assorted restaurant jobs. (Thursday)

80 Franklin Street (Oak Street), Greenpoint, Brooklyn, 716-932-2581, cecilybk.com.

Smith & Mills

This TriBeCa tavern has opened an uptown branch on the rink level at Rockefeller Center. Starting with a dinner menu dominated by seafood and also featuring tagliatelle puttanesca, a pork chop and a pastrami short rib Reuben, it’s adding lunch this week. The setting is more polished, with velvet banquettes, than the downtown original.

Rink Level, Rockefeller Center, 646-861-0030, smithandmills.com.

Chef Mitsuru Tamura at Parcelle

An omakase at a tavern-style wine bar? Why not? The chef Mitsuru Tamaru, formerly at Sushi Yasuda, mans an eight-seat counter Tuesdays through Thursdays, serving 15 courses, $200, with seatings at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. There are a few tables for à la carte dining.

135 Division Street (Canal Street), 212-258-0722, resy.com.

Sotto

As the name implies, this lounge is under the new Italian restaurant Lupetto. Elegantly appointed, it offers inventive and classic cocktails along with a burger that’s not an option at Lupetto.

1123 Broadway (25th Street), lupettonyc.com.

Gioia

Jesse Schenker, the chef and restaurateur who relocated from Manhattan to Oyster Bay several years ago, continues to build his kingdom in that Long Island North Shore village. His latest, just a block or so from his restaurants 2 Spring Street and the Chef’s Counter at Four, is Italian but focused on the Emilia-Romagna region. “There’s a lot of Italian on Long Island, but no one is doing Emilia-Romagna,” he said. The warmly decorated, brick-walled restaurant has a view of cooks making pasta up front. Pastas, including mushroom lasagna, tortellini stuffed with mortadella, and spinach ravioli in sage and brown butter, share the menu with antipasti like prosciutto with gnocco fritto, and white beans with grilled vegetables. There’s a daily dish of the day. The wine list, including a couple of lambruscos, is all Italian.

94 South Street (East Main Street), Oyster Bay, N.Y., 516-922-1660, gioianewyork.com.

Closing

Al Coro

After two years and despite two Michelin stars, the restaurateur Jeff Katz and his partner, the chef, Melissa Rodriguez, are throwing in the dish towel and closing on Dec. 23. They will reconceive and rename the restaurant that covers two floors and 24,000 square feet of space, formerly occupied by Del Posto, and which served only tasting menus ($140 to $275). “It’s a great restaurant but we had a rough year,” Mr. Katz said. “The modern diner wants more flexibility, the option to share, and take less time.” Acknowledging that “à la carte is still robust,” that’s the route they plan to take after redecorating and reopening late next year. Until the restaurant closes it will serve dishes from the seven menus of the past two years. At the same time, the Tao Group has entered the picture as a partner in Al Coro and Mel’s, the adjacent pizzeria, which remains open.

Al Coro, 86 Tenth Avenue (15th Street), 212-970-2200, alcoro-nyc.com.

Chefs on the Move

Stefan Kefgen

Previously the executive chef at the Dutch in SoHo, Mr. Kefgen is the new executive chef at Farm to People Kitchen & Bar, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He has introduced a winter menu featuring mussels in a diavolo sauce, honeynut squash with pepita salsa, and bread pudding with brown butter apple compote.

Celia Lee

A Korean American pastry chef whose résumé includes the kitchens of Milk Bar, Ladurée, The Modern and Naro, Ms. Lee is the new executive pastry chef at the Michelin-starred Oiji Mi and its back-room restaurant, bōm.

Gerard Spezio

This chef who has worked at various Hyatt properties in and around New York, is now the executive chef at the Park Hyatt New York across from Carnegie Hall. His kitchen for the hotel and its Living Room restaurant are stocked with products from the Hudson Valley.

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