Anniversary special

Restaurant reservations, Torrisi, Torien, Goldie @ Google, FOUND expansion, Gumshoe, Hutch and Waldo, Chop Suey Club, Chinatown boutiques, MORE

Apr 16, 2024

∙ Paid

RESTAURANTS • The Apps

Reservations about reservations

Is the easiest restaurant booking in Manhattan right now… Torrisi?

Get the sparklers — FOUND NY turns a year old this week. And where better to kick off our second year than where we spent a good portion of our first: weighing the state of restaurant reservations. In early ’23, a spate of pay-for-play solutions like Dorsia and Appointment Trader were new on the scene, leading us to put forth the above provocation, but regarding Carbone. (The more things change…)

What’s the state of play in the spring of ’24? No better, and perhaps worse. Let’s take stock of the field.

Dorsia: Not much has changed in the past 12 months. The invite-only app still allows users to book a table by guaranteeing a minimum spend for the meal. A year ago, a table for two at Torrisi could be had for $500. Now, on this coming Friday night, a table for four in the dining room at 5:30p requires a prepaid guarantee of $300 per, or $1200 total. (Inflation!)
- The verdict: “Fucking expensive,” a lawyer friend told FOUND after taking the Dorsia route into Torrisi last month. For those who must, Dorsia does offer access to some new hotspots like Coqodaq ($180 per), though others like Raf’s appear to have exited the service. But for most restaurants on the app, going to the restaurant website or calling for a reservation works fine, and requires no prepaid spend.
Appointment Trader/Cita: The DIY aesthetic of the Appointment Trader website hasn’t changed in the past year. And emails from the reservations marketplace have gotten more frantic (“Someone will pay you $330 for a San Sabino reservation!”). At Cita, a somewhat more polished reservation reseller, dinner reservations this week at Torrisi are listed for $337 and up.
- The verdict: Don’t. In the year since we embarrassingly bluffed our way into Tatiana with a gray-market reservation bought off AT, we’ve heard repeated reports of restaurants turning away resold reservations. After all, this is someone else’s Resy reservation you’re buying. (Had a positive experience with AT or Cita? We’d love to hear about it.)

Gray-market reservation marketplaces exist in part because Resy and the other first-party reservation platforms haven’t managed (or bothered) to beat back the bots. Reading the tea leaves, it looks like the direction the reservation market is moving toward rewarding regulars with access to reservations never offered up to the general public. (Restaurants have held tables for VIPs forever; the trick, now, is to create a good algorithm for it.)

Restaurant loyalty platform Blackbird allows diners who have demonstrated a certain level of loyalty at specific restaurants to DM that restaurant for reservations. And Resy — which has long held tables for the exclusive booking of Platinum and Centurion cardholders — gives restaurants the ability to allocate tables on the app for designated VIPs. Plus, according to one trusted FOUND source, Resy lately has been playing with gating certain restaurant bookings for regulars only (as determined by Resy, and denoted with a golden crown) in its battle against bots. We’ll see.

As for what else one can do? We’ve previously discussed hitting up last year’s hottest restaurants or giving in to booking reservations at the (fucking) bar. Given the splintering of reservation options, check not just Resy, but the restaurant website, too, as inventory varies by source. Maybe even give them a call. But also, take heart. One friend of FOUND got a same-day two-top at Tatiana last week the old-fashioned way: via Resy Notify. –Lockhart Steele

RESTAURANTS • Intel

FROM TOKYO WITH LOVE: Once a year, chef Yoshiteru Ikegawa of Tokyo’s unbookable, introduction-only Torishiki — the number one rated yakitori counter in all of Japan — hops the Pacific Ocean to cook at his binchotan-fueled, New York grilled chicken restaurant Torien. This year’s dates are May 16-20 and May 22-23. Expect roughly 14 courses of dishes like skewered chicken hearts and cartilage, alongside chicken breast with caviar, for $350 per.

Also on special offer this year: The inventor of the Wagyu katsu sando, Kentaro Nakahara (above) of Tokyo’s acclaimed Sumibi Yakiniku Nakahara (and his namesake soon-to-open Miami outpost) will join Nakahara behind the counter at Torien May 24-25 for a multi-course dinner, $600 per. Ikegawa will prep skewers while Nakahata serves some of his Tokyo signatures, such as beef tartare and a new grilled beef take on his legendary steak sando. Two seatings, at 5:30p and 9p. Reserve (live at 4p tomorrow).

GOLDIE, LOCKED: A special FOUND correspondent reports from inside the new Google HQ in Hudson Square: “The paint is still drying (the lobby still smells like it!) and Laser Wolf proprietor Michael Solomonov’s first NYC outpost of his Philadelphia falafel minichain Goldie is open. When we stepped in, we found a breezy five-person line and a simple menu displayed on a giant tablet: falafel sandwich, falafel salad, falafel hummus platter, and a tehina shake. (Not on the menu, but available next to the schug bar: harissa-spiced fries.) For dessert, several types of halva. All with stunning views of the Hudson River, and, best part: it was free! Of course, it’s for Google employees only.”

NYC RESTAURANT LINKS: Renovated, reopened Central Park Boathouse is a shipwreck • Claim: power lunch spots now ‘swarming with movers and shakers’ • Sammy’s Roumanian lounge singer counts on restaurant rebirth to save Sundays • New Brooklyn bakeries alert: Sofresh team opens Sofresh Cafe in Prospect Heights, Place des Fêtes team debuts Laurel on Columbia St. Waterfront • The Wisconsin Butter Burger comes to Hamburger America • For Dave Arnold, no ordinary gin & tonic will suffice.

WORK • Housekeeping

Birthdays

It’s a big week here at FOUND HQ. Here’s what’s on tap:

Wed, 4/17: FOUND SF launches
Thurs, 4/18: FOUND MIAMI launches
Thurs, 4/18: FOUND NY turns one

Together with FOUND LA, that makes four markets in our first year. More to come (hello Paris? London?).

For now, we’re going to focus on helping our subscribers unlock more of what makes these cities (and surrounds) so great. We’ve covered some ground in a year, but there’s much more to do. To that end, we’re going to start expanding the FOUND team. Here are places we could use help:

Writers and contributors: In all of the markets above — people with an eye for what’s special, and the ability to convey it concisely
Editorial operations: To manage calendars and pay, platforms, and processes
Sales: Creative sellers who know how to connect brands with valuable audiences
Growth & marketing: It’s a business!

If any of these are you, drop us a line at found@foundny.com.

Thanks for your support during these formative days of FOUND. It’s the first thing we think about when we sit down at our keyboards every morning. And we’re very excited to keep building for you, and with you, in the year ahead. –Josh & Lock

WORK LINKS: Three new tenants bring 461 Fifth Ave to fully leased • One Madison Ave reveals lush rooftop garden, steakhouse coming this fall from Daniel Boulud • How a Penn Station dream slipped away for Vornado's Steven Roth • Being together turns out to be a big office amenity after all • The rise of the chief AI officer • Office furniture trend report: ‘We’ve reached peak couch’.

WORK • Tuesday Routine

Baby steps

HARLING ROSS ANTON • writer and brand consultant • Gumshoe
Neighborhood you work in: Upper East Side

It’s Tuesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I’m usually at my kitchen table. I’ve been working for myself (and therefore at home) since 2020, and while I miss going into an office sometimes, I also love staying in my pajama pants for a bit longer than I’d be able to otherwise and eating my breakfast (oatmeal cooked with whole milk, drizzled with coconut oil and honey) at a less frenzied pace. The scene is — externally — quite peaceful, which is misleading. I’m usually panicking about trying to get as much done as possible while my son takes his first nap of the day.

What’s on the agenda for today?
I just started working again after a six-month maternity leave, and one of the main things on my agenda is the rather daunting task of making my way through the thousands of emails that piled up. The ultimate slog! On the more fun side of things, I publish a weekly shopping newsletter on Substack called Gumshoe, which takes up a big chunk of time every day as I’m sourcing mostly vintage and secondhand links, and I’m very particular about them. I’m also in the midst of a couple of copywriting projects, which have been a nice way of dipping my toe back into the brand consulting side of my work.

What’s for lunch?
Lately my hyperfixation lunch has been the breakfast burrito from Hutch and Waldo, a cute little Aussie cafe in my neighborhood. With lots of Yellow Bird hot sauce.

Any plans tonight?
I’ll probably start prepping things for dinner before my son goes to sleep and then finish cooking with my husband once he’s home from work. I’m making one of our go-to recipes tonight — the Bon Appetit broccoli bolognese. We’re not the best cooks, but this recipe is foolproof, and we’ve made it countless times. We’ve been really into making hot chocolate after dinner recently, so I’ll probably do that for dessert. We received a tin of Flamingo Estate drinking chocolate discs as a gift which makes the process really easy — you just melt the discs in the milk of your choice (I like oat or whole) over the stove. I’m up early every day with the baby, so I’m usually pretty tired at this point, but I try to stay up at least until around 9:45 p.m. to pump before going to bed, so we’ve been (very belatedly) catching up on The Bear’s second season to stay awake. I’m happy to report that it does live up to the hype.

What store or service do you always recommend?
I’ve been recommending Welcome Home, a NYC-based postpartum meal delivery service, to any pregnant person within earshot. Mandela (the owner and chef) runs the whole business out of her kitchen, and cooks the most delicious, nourishing meals.

ASK FOUND

Hit reply or or email found@foundny.com with questions and/or answers.

Three FOUND subscriber PROMPTS that require your immediate attention:

Now that spring is here, where are you drinking outside?
Which hotel are you booking for a weekend getaway this summer?
Where do you go for the best local delivery of spring flowers?

GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop

Chinatown creatives

There’s a lot more to Chinatown than hand-pulled noodles or a Toki ginger punch at the Whiskey Tavern — like boutiques with great finds outside Mott Street’s touristy center. Chop Suey Club on Hester Street sits at the top of that list, with chic, unique items for the home and body. “We started as a fashion novelty shop seven years ago, and we’ve updated it to sell things made by Asian creatives, mostly Chinese, that all relate to Asian culture yet are appealing to Americans,” Mu, the manager, tells FOUND.

Start with bestselling candles by Emme in scents like bamboo, lychee, matcha, and yuzu, or consider Candle Boy’s “melting” figurines, designed by a well-known Chinese tattoo artist, or a pillow with the logo of White Rabbit (above), one of the biggest candy brands in China. Also on offer: greeting cards, incense, key chains, jade rings and other jewelry, hats, tea shirts, tea sets, lucky cats, Asian-inspired Tarot cards, and custom Lion Dance Lego sets, packaged in shiny red takeout containers for the kids. Or treat yourself with a mahjong set and book the mahjong room for your crew. –Karen Moline

→ Chop Suey Club (Chinatown) • 81 Hester St • Tues-Sun 12-7p.

GOODS & SERVICES LINKS: Welcome to Williamsburg’s wellness corridor • DIY-inspired jewelry brand Haricot Vert opens Greenpoint store • Judging the polarizing shoe trends of 2024 • Trend watch: Le Corbusier-inspired NYC skin care studios • Why I'm taking a break from Botox.

GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines

Shopping, Chinatown

Chop Suey Club (Chinatown), chic and unique home and body items by Asian creatives