RESTAURANT NEWS & NOTES: ARTEPASTA, JOANNE TRATTORIA, FAMIGLIA, SUSHI YASAKA, CHIPOTLE, MORE
There’s quite a bit of recent news about Upper West Side restaurants to whet your appetite.
Famiglia Pizza on 96th street and Amsterdam Avenue is undergoing some major renovations, and is urging everyone to Get Excited! for it’s imminent reopening. Thanks to Ira and Kayla for the tips and photos.
Artepasta, an Italian restaurant that once had a location in the West Village, plans to open this month at the old site of Dean’s Pizzeria on 85th street. Says Zagat: “We hear that the venue is gearing up to open in the middle of July and will feature whole wheat pizzas, a salumeria station for meat and cheese and $1 oysters at the bar.” Artepasta is apparently owned by the same people who own Arte Cafe on 73rd street.
Joanne Trattoria on 68th off of Columbus was recently downgraded by the health department from an A grade to a B grade. Owner Joe Germanotta, who is Lady Gaga’s father, was incensed, and says the city is out to get him. The violations included “a bad potato in a bin with 40 good potatoes,” he claimed.
Don’t you hate it when your favorite restaurants get too popular? A friend recently tried to get a table at Sushi Yasaka on 72nd street near West End Avenue a Sunday night for a large party (4 adults and 3 children), and the wait was two hours. That place is damn good.
Andanada 141 at 141 West 69th street doesn’t seem very busy, but it ought to be, says a reviewer at New York Journal: “I guess modern Spanish cuisine is a tough sell in this neighborhood. On a Friday evening, before the ballet, the restaurant was not half full. That’s a pity. Andanada 141 is the best of the three Spanish restaurants that have tried to make a go of it in this space.”
A chain called Bareburger is supposedly headed to the Upper West Side soon, destination still unknown, says NY Business Journal.
Chipotle is now supplying the grub at the Summerstage member deck this month. In other Chipotle news, the restaurant going into the old Neo sushi spot on Broadway between 82nd and 83rd appears to be a stalled construction site, says Ken (permits still say Chipotle’s coming though).
OO Wonder frozen yogurt and juice bar opened a few weeks ago on Columbus between 72nd and 73rd. Our tipster Nadine says the owners are locals, and that she’s a big fan of the Greek yogurt.
Re: Father Gaga’s (if he’s Lady Gaga’s dad then isn’t he….) complaint that the city was out to get him and that “The violations included “a bad potato in a bin with 40 good potatoes,”
Isn’t he familiar with the old adage ‘All it takes is one bad potato to spoil the whole bunch”?
Ask Dan Quayle; he knows a lot about potatoes…errr…potatos…err…potatoze…errr………?
🙂
But what about Kefi?
not sure about Kefi, but Casa Pomona (the place next door which closed at the same) has a sign up that says they will be reopening in August.
Good question Jon. Last we checked it’s closed indefinitely, but we’ll update soon. Avi
I talked with a server three weeks ago at Kefi sister restaurant Fishtag and he said it’ll be 3-4 more months before Kefi returns. Obviously secondhand info, but FWIW.
I’m baffled by the popularity of sushi Yasaka. As a hardcore sushi lover I’ve always been disappointed in the UWS offerings. So i gave this place a shot. I found the sushi quality to be average at best. Actually the tuna was rather bad. You can judge a sushi restaurant by the quality of tuna alone, but all of the other 4 types of fish I had were disappointing as well.
We ate at Joanne Trattoria. It used to be a lovely venue, now it is very ordinary with a very mundane menu. Can’t imagine it will last long!
OO Wonder needs to put some flavor in the greek yogurt right now it taste like frozen ice they also need to put fruit in their buckets it looks picked over lots of MMs I guess fruit costs more money as does flavor. Get what I’m saying cheap is cheap. Not a good way to start a business.
I miss Kefi…
Screme also reopened – hurray!
Bareburger has GF fries and buns too ….. great Gluten Free addition to the neighborhood…maybe it is time for a column highlighting all the Gluten free spots on the upper west side….
my suggestions include:
5 napkin burger
serafina
sambuca
nice matin
cafe 82
Rosa Mexicano
Pappardella
Cafe Fiorello
Lilis 57
Shun Lee West
stores:
Gfree
Fairway
Zabars
Whole foods
Trader Joes
Famiglia underwent a thorough renovation sometime in the last three years. Not sure what their new renovation can do….
The Famiglia on 111th & Bway is taking over while 96th & Amsterdam is renovating. Where can I get a decent pizza delivered on the upper west side (90’s)…. Their delivery people are very nice….but the pizza average.
Andanada is good, but overpriced. The tapas places in the W. Village are closer to $5-$10 per plate, but Andanada is $10-$20 for tapas and entrees hovering near $30. Cafe Ronda a few blocks away has tapas in the $5-10 range and entrees in the lower $20s.
They seem to have lowered the happy hour prices, so that’s promising, but 5-7pm is a pretty limited range, given the type of customer they want to attract. If you work downtown, get out at 6pm (which is early for most people), you won’t be back uptown until almost 7. Also, in the summer, the sun’s still out until after 8pm, people want to sit outside on one of the avenues, not underground in their dark restaurant.
Exactly. I really want to try Andanada, but haven’t been willing to take the plunge because they’re charging $12 for goat cheese with mixed greens, $13 for patatas bravas, etc.
Bummed about Dean’s. Was great for kids’ birthday party gatherings. Sounds like it’s going to be more upscale and less kid-friendly.