FOUND: eggs & caviar
Power breakfasts, Ichimura, Sailor, subway graphics, Sidecar, mooncakes, MORE
RESTAURANTS • Kodawari
A sushi legend returns to Tribeca
Welcome to a new FOUND feature in which we profile sushi counters practicing kodawari — the uncompromising, relentless pursuit of perfection.
The Skinny: Among the cobblestones of Tribeca comes Sushi Ichimura, the three-month-old, pocket-sized omakase counter from New York sushi legend Eiji Ichimura (Brushstroke, Ichimura at Uchū). It’s the best effort of his storied career.
The Experience: Ichimura’s seasonal Japanese seafood menu is roughly 20 courses and runs $425 before tax and tip. Anchoring the minimalist, manicured space is a pristine 200-year-old cedar wood counter, flanked by 10 velvet seats.
House Manners: This isn’t a formal, buttoned-up experience, but it’s certainly not a casual one: don’t wear shorts, avoid perfume, and speak softly.
Sushi Style: Ichimura’s signature style is restrained and technical. He’s known for extended seafood aging, though on a recent summer visit, buttery and umami-rich fish replaced the bolder flavors at his other counters. (Summer fish is usually aged for a shorter period of time due to its size and fat content.)
The Progression: The meal begins with monaka, a rice-based wafer sandwich loaded with plump Hokkaido uni tongues, Kaviari ossetra caviar, and a mound of fresh wasabi. Next: four otsumami (small, expertly executed appetizers), leading into bites like baby squid the size of a pinky finger. Finally, a showstopper tuna block — lean bluefin marinated in soy sauce leading into double-decker stacked slices of medium fatty tuna, followed by triple-layered slabs of fatty tuna. The legend lives on. –Kat Odell
→ Sushi Ichimura (Tribeca) • 412 Greenwich St. • 5:30p & 8:30p seatings, closed Sun. & Mon. • Resy (photo: Evan Sung).
RESTAURANTS • Intel
→ Highly anticipated newcomer Sailor (Fort Greene, above), the Gabe Stulman-April Bloomfield collaboration, opened its doors to the neighborhood over the weekend. The restaurant is currently serving walk-ins only [Wed.-Sun.], with reservations to follow.
→ The pandemic-shuttered second-floor space at legendary bar P.J. Clarke’s (Midtown East) reopens today. Sidecar, as it’s known, used to be a members-only joint but is now a ‘semi-private’ dining room that promises to take all comers. Do reserve for lunch or after work.
→ Following the remaking of Rockefeller Center as a restaurant destination, ‘tis now the season for tweaks. At Five Acres, chef Greg Baxtrom decided something wasn’t working and has revised the menu to be less vegetable-centric and more tourist-centric, per NYT: Hello, shrimp cocktail, turkey club, cheeseburger. Across the yard at Ignacio Mattos’ Lodi, the bakery is closing and the freed-up interior space will be added to the restaurant.
NYC RESTAURANT LINKS: Gramercy Park Hotel to reopen in 2025 likely with born-again Maialino • Former Edi & the Wolf owner now running the kitchen at Hancock St. • End of an era: Momofuku Ssäm Bar will close permanently at end of month • Nudibranch in East Village ditches tasting menu • Why is every drink Italian now?
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Power breakfasts*
Lodi (Rockefeller Center), fine during the Today Show, better after
Michael’s (Midtown), original media power breakfast spot, since 1989
Casa Lever (Midtown), recently reopened following renovation
Kolomon (NoMad), chef Markus Glocker serving European breakfast vibes
Cafe Chelsea (Chelsea), this fall’s new power breakfast hotness
Raf’s (Noho), this fall’s other new power breakfast hotness
La Marchande (Wall Street), impressively large AM menu from chef John Fraser
The Mark by Jean-Georges (Upper East Side), for UES JGV breakfast fix
As You Are (Downtown Brooklyn), Brooklyn creatives breakfast at Ace Hotel
*That aren’t Balthazar. Hit reply or email found@foundny.com with additions and subtractions.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Volume
Graphics material inside
Of all the oversized, hardbound books I keep in house, none come close to the delight-delivering capabilities of the Standards Manual reissue of legendary Unimark designer Massimo Vignelli's 1970 MTA Graphics Standards book. The profoundly satisfying volume can absolutely be judged by its cover: a behemoth 13.5” W × 13.5" H, and in a bright, orbit orange. Inside is an absolute feast for anyone who loves design at scale, New York, or just beautiful colors, text, and coherent, iconic industrial visuals that last the test of time.
Flipping through it, one gets the sensation of a kind of visual ASMR. The different colors and letterings used to design the look of the New York City underground showcase a quiet, subtle, eternally influential cool. Standards Manual doesn’t make the full-size any more, and the compact 10 x 10 version is sold out. That said, (A) make sure to check out their other books — like the old school NASA graphics manual or the book of National Parks visual ephemera — and (B) somehow, the official MTA store still has the OG in stock. –Foster Kamer
→ Shop: NYCT Full Size Graphics Standards Manual, $325.
GOODS & SERVICES LINKS: Upper East Side getting its second Whole Foods • Marc Jacobs in talks to open new flagship store at 645 Fifth Ave. • Has New York’s cannabis market reached a breaking point? • Othership bathouse opening first NYC location in Williamsburg • Furniture hunting with the NYC design set’s secret weapon.
WORK • BTS RTO
Return to the office — or else?
The back-to-school return-to-office narrative is strong: media, finance, and tech firms are all celebrating the season by turning the screws.
If it sounds familiar, it is. Plenty of firms tried the same line this time last year, yet office attendance in the city only briefly topped 50% in June — before tanking to 38% during the last week of August.
Will the RTO table-pounding work this year? Maybe if it’s accompanied by actual firings, as some are threatening. But here’s the problem: while kids may be back in school, many offices remain miserable, area commutes are worse, child care is broken, and the housing market is stuck.
We’re taking the under.
WORK LINKS: Strong August office leasing volume comes with a catch • 1 WTC inks half-dozen new leases • WeWork: we’re renegotiating ‘nearly all of our leases’ • Financial services platform Ramp raises $300M in down round • Big VC firms are doing fewer, smaller, earlier deals.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
Mooncakes and Figure Eights
EMMELINE ZHAO, managing partner & sommelier, Silver Apricot
Neighborhood you work in: West Village
It’s Tuesday morning, where are you working?
I’m parked at my home office setup, taking meetings and calls, answering emails. I’ll make my way to the restaurant in the afternoon.
What’s the Tuesday morning scene at your workplace?
A lot of virtual sensory overload. I'll typically have all of my email accounts, Slack, and news feeds pulled up on my 35" workscreen. And there's definitely, at minimum, 20 ounces of coffee at the ready.
What’s on the agenda for today?
First, a Zoom call with the editors of The 74, a nonprofit national education news site for which I direct special projects and multimedia. We recently just made a mini documentary that straddles my two worlds, food/wine and education/journalism.
Next, a workout or run to calibrate my mood and my brain for effectiveness for the rest of the day. At Silver Apricot, I’m tasting wines and new menu items (with chef de cuisine Joe Bliffen). We're also working on mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival in conjunction with Figure Eight, our forthcoming sister concept in the old Pearl Oyster Bar space on Cornelia St. You can pre-order a box now or find them at the restaurant the last week of September.
What’s for lunch?
I often forget to eat lunch. This is a real problem. I do love Charlie Bird. If it's the weekend and I'm already at Silver Apricot by lunchtime, I’ll pop into The Noortwyck around the corner.
Any plans tonight?
I have this unreasonable indisposition to travel to dine, so I have a tendency to stick to the boundaries of my neighborhood — Hell's Kitchen — when I go out to eat or drink. My latest newish addition to the hood is Chalong, which serves phenomenal southern Thai cuisine, and equally fun drinks.
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