Wegmans is betting that the cult-like devotion of its customers will carry over from the grocery store aisles to its first restaurant within the Massive Apple.
The Rochester, NY-based chain – which opened in Astor Place in 2023, with strains that started to type at 4 a.m. – will launch a Japanese-themed eatery adjoining to the shop referred to as Subsequent Door on April 30.
The opening comes regardless of nervousness over the unpredictability of the Trump tariffs, which presently slaps Japan with a ten% levy on all imports.
“As with most new restaurants, we’ll see how it all settles, and look at our sales mix. You can project all you want, but how it works out financially will be determined in the next few weeks,” mentioned John Emerson, Wegmans’ senior vp of restaurant meals, who was additionally named a Japanese Delicacies Goodwill Ambassador by the Japanese authorities.
The restaurant will characteristic a sushi counter – and champagne bar (the most recent pattern to hit Manhattan) – with a menu providing delicacies sourced from Tokyo’s Toyosu Fish Market, which Wegmans has partnered with for 14 years.
“It was always the dream to open a restaurant in New York City, but we knew we couldn’t eat the elephant in one bite and open both [the grocery store and the restaurant] at the same time,” mentioned Emerson.
The privately-owned chain, which opened its first Massive Apple location in Brooklyn, in 2019, operates 112 grocery shops throughout the East Coast.
Subsequent Door – simply the third restaurant Wegmans has opened, with the opposite two situated in Rochester – shall be helmed by cooks Kazuya Matsuoka, previously of Toronto’s Aburi Hana, and Oliver Lange, previously of Zuma.
“We’re a contemporary Japanese concept, with a philosophy of embracing the quality of the ingredients and the techniques,” Lange mentioned.
Signature dishes embrace koji marinated grass-fed ribeye — and king salmon pate with crudites and rice crackers, Lange mentioned.
We hear … On Thursday, Venice import La Piazza is opening in Rockefeller Middle in an area that was previously occupied by Casa Limone, at 20 E. forty ninth St.
Brothers Juljan and Ledjo Musabelliu launched the flagship eatery La Piazza by Venice’s iconic Piazza San Marco 10 years in the past. There’s now three places in Venice, and one other is opening in Mykonos this summer time.
“New York has some of the best Italian food outside of Italy. We are excited to bring authentic Venetian to our customers and we are not concerned about the tariffs as New Yorkers are willing to pay for real Italian ingredients or ‘la materia prima,’” Juljan Musabelliu mentioned.
The 5,000 sq. foot eatery shall be helmed by government chef Fabrizio Bresciani, who has labored with La Piazza group’s numerous eating places, together with Al Poggio, Ai Due Fratelli, Vesuvio, La Piazza, and La Piazza Zone.
The menu will characteristic imported Italian seafood, premium cuts, and wood-fire oven pizza, together with a big worldwide wine record. Signature dishes embrace purple shrimp tartare and burrata; Venetian-Model spaghetti with squid ink, and Pizza La Piazza with mozzarella, tomato sauce, garlic, scallops, lobster, basil and oregano.
The bi-level area seats 133 folks and options ground to ceiling home windows, a marble bar– with 12 extra seats — and olive inexperienced cubicles. There’s an extra two tables exterior and they’re presently making use of for the out of doors eating allow.
