New Details Revealed about Upcoming Cipriani Food Market and Other New Restaurants

The Waterline Square development, where the new Cirpiani food hall will be located.

By A. Campbell

A big new food market designed by Cipriani is coming to the Upper West Side, and the developers came to a Community Board 7 meeting this month to talk about it. The review was part of a meeting with CB7’s Business & Consumer Issues Committee about liquor licenses and sidewalk cafe permits that also covered four other restaurants: Miznon; two Mexican spots; and Szechuan Garden.

Located at 475 West 61st Street near Riverside Boulevard, the Cipriani restaurant and food hall will be an “Eataly-type” establishment, according to representatives from project developers GID Development and Cipriani. It’s part of the new Waterline Square development going up between 59th and 61st Street along the Hudson.

The food hall will include a coffee bar; gelato and pastry shop; produce stand; juice bar; salad shop; bakery; pasta lab; bellini bar; pizza bar; cheese shop; a prepared foods shop; a butcher; a rotisserie market; a fish monger; and a raw bar. Cipriani will also establish a full service restaurant which representatives said would be very similar to Bellini, another Cipriani restaurant located downtown near the South Street Seaport. Hours of operation for the bar and restaurant will be 7:00am – 12:00am, Monday through Friday, and 8:00am – 12:00am on Saturdays and Sundays. The food hall will be open daily from 7:00am – 11:00pm. Representatives confirmed that names for the food hall and the new restaurant were still under consideration.

Community Board members inquired whether GID Development representatives had consulted with the Riverside Conservancy or the Hudson River Conservancy during their plans. GID reps said they had not, but assumed the building’s landlord had spoken with both groups since the high-rise development has been ongoing for quite some time. Community Board 7 members also asked about plans to monitor trash and foot traffic, to which GID Development representatives replied that they were “working on those details.” The 20,000 square foot space will create approximately 200 jobs and is expected to open toward the end of July or early August 2019, they said.

Miznon, a new restaurant serving Mediterranean street food, will be opening at 161 West 72nd Street, housed in the space formerly used by Aroma Espresso Bar. The restaurant will be very similar to its counterpart located in Chelsea Market. Menu offerings include the Intimate Plate, comprised of slow-cooked beef and roots stew, tahini, onion, and pickles; the Hraime Skillet – hake fish cooked in a tomato sauce with tahini and spicy green peppers; a falafel burger; and lamb kebabs with grilled tomato and onion, tahini, tomato salsa, and green chili peppercorns.

Upper West Side resident Jonathan Welter questioned Miznon representatives during their presentation and asked what guarantees they could provide to nearby residents that the new restaurant would be a good neighbor by keeping the volume of music and other noise down. keep the volume of music and other disruptions down. Welter said that he and other neighbors were kept awake into the early morning hours by events on Aroma’s outside deck.

Miznon representatives said that the large speakers that had been formerly housed on the backyard deck had already been removed and that they had no intention of allowing amplified music. They assured Welter that Miznon would operate as a restaurant only, not as a performance or party venue, and they agreed to close the backyard deck at 10:00pm in order to minimize disruptions to neighbors. Miznon representatives said the backyard deck will include eight tables with seating for up to 30 people and only background music would be permitted.

Community Board 7 member Mark Diller noted that is very common to hear grievances from Upper West Side residents when they think former businesses have been “bad actors” and that he was sorry to learn about Aroma’s behavior. He noted, however, that someone would inevitably fill the vacant space and the Board “can’t hold [Aroma’s actions] against Miznon.” The Board voted to approve Miznon’s SLA license.

A Mexican restaurant owned and operated by The Calaveras Group, will be the new tenant of 949 Columbus Avenue, although the name is not yet clear. Among other things, the restaurant menu will include tuna tartare tostadas, vegetarian empanadas, chicken enchiladas, carne asada, and fajitas. The restaurant will be open from 12:00pm – 12:00am, Monday through Thursday, and from 12:00pm – 2:00am on Fridays and Saturdays. Representatives confirmed they expect the restaurant to open by May.

Two other restaurants also applied for licenses – Szechuan Garden at 239 West 105th Street and a new Mexican restaurant, Rancho Taquileria, at 200 West 95th Street. Rancho Taquileria will offer delivery and will be open Monday through Thursday, as well as Sunday, until 12:00am, and Fridays and Saturdays until 1:00am. Representatives for Szechuan Garden were not present at the meeting to share more details.

The New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) will also have to approve any liquor licenses.