Greenwich Village Sleeper Hit Will Open a Bigger, More Ambitious Sequel

Eater

3 days ago

Andy Quinn, the chef and co-owner of the Noortwyck in Greenwich Village since it opened three years ago, is preparing to open a second restaurant in the fall— a larger project on the ground floor of an 1890's commercial building at the edge of Nolita and Little Italy (174 Mott Street, at Broome Street). Though the team hasn't announced a name, the two-story, 140-seat restaurant, according to community board filings, will highlight American wood-fired cooking.
'It was our ambition to do something similar to the Noortwyck in the way that it can be every day, and then just turn it up a few notches.' Potential dishes listed on the community filings include grilled sourdough with chanterelles, potatoes with littlenecks and caviar, lobster with bomba rice and cherry pepper thermidor, and whole chicken roasted over coals. There will be a deep wine list assembled by co-owner Cedric Nicaise, a robust bar program, and, unlike the Noortwyck, private dining options.
Quinn is as excited about the 5,600 square-foot space. 'The touches, the finishing, the design is going to be gorgeous.'
Quinn, who is British, and his partner Nicaise opened the Noortwyck in June 2022 at 289 Bleecker Street at Seventh Avenue. Both are alumni of three-Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park from Daniel Humm, where Quinn worked for five years and rose to executive sous chef.
Critics welcomed the Noortwyck with praise for its high-level cooking in a casual setting. Eater's Robert Sietsema called it 'handsome but casual,' and noted its 'EMP-level ambition at a fraction of the cost.' Pete Wells of the New York Times gave it a two-star review in 2023, describing Quinn's cooking as 'exacting and precise, with a whole arsenal of skills and a minimalist sensibility that calls for most of the technical stuff to be tucked quietly into dishes that look simple and straightforward, even when they're not.'
When he first came to the States, Quinn says he crossed paths with fellow Brit Ed Szymanski (married to partner Patricia Howard, now chef and co-owner of Crevette, Lord's, and Dame) when they were both young cooks. They have since been friends for years, helping each other build their communities.
Rather than chase stars at the Noortwyck, Quinn says the team wanted something more grounded: 'a place that had everyday comfort to it.' Today, the menu offers items like seeded Parker House rolls, white asparagus cacio e pepe, linguine with clams, and striped bass with saffron gnocchi.
Opening in the wake of the pandemic posed its own set of challenges. 'The initial thing was the staffing issue, and getting people into the kitchen and into the dining room to work was really, really difficult,' says Quinn. That challenge continues today in that they've had to make cuts. 'Instead of having a butcher taking care of all of our butcher needs, that role got diminished and those responsibilities fell on me and my sous chef team,' he says.
And ingredient prices, he observes, continue to go up. 'When we got the actuals back — you know, three months, six months, 12 months in — everything was a giant leap in terms of costs,' Quinn says. 'Food, for example — it used to cost $25 to fill a fryer, and now it's, like, $100.'
The industry has shifted in less visible ways, too, with late-night dining coming back slowly to Greenwich Village. 'By 9 p.m., the dining room was pretty much cleared out,' he says of midweek service at the Noortwyck. 'A few years ago, I was getting dinner at 9:30 p.m.. And now, I said to my girlfriend, 'Get that 6 p.m. res.''
Quinn says that much of the staff has been with the restaurant since it opened three years ago; the Noortwyck has around 40 to 45 employees.
'The likelihood is we probably would have lost people as they became more ambitious,' he says. 'The opportunity to grow comes at the perfect time.' See More: