Latest news with #GramercyTavern
New York Post
10-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Hani's bakery delights and boasts a life changing PB&J — the best in the city
The best peanut butter & jelly in town lurks behind a door with the letter 'D' — marking a former Dunkin Donuts that's now Hani's Bakery + Cafe, the city's hottest place for fabulous baked goods and sandwiches. The doorhandle 'D' might stand for delicious or decadent, both of which apply to Hani's, located at 67 Cooper Square. It's the neighborhood's biggest draw since the rotating Astor Place Cube was installed in 1967. Hani's is a labor of love by celebrated former Gramercy Tavern pastry chef Miro Uskokovic and his wife, Bon Appetit senior food editor Shilpa Uskokovic, who took over the space late last year. 8 Miro Uskokovic and his wife Shilpa Uskokovic conceived Hani's and developed its delectable menu together. Mark Weinberg 8 The peanut butter and jelly sandwich 'is the most American thing,' according to Uskokovic, who prides himself on his traditional US menu staples — and grinds the peanuts for it in-house. EMMY PARK 'We debated whether to keep the 'D' and decided it was pretty cute,' Uskokovic chuckled. Uskokovic, who first came to the US from Serbia shortly before 9/11, set out to make his pastries, cookies and other goodies all-American — not influenced by Eastern Europe or France. 'I became known for my American desserts at Gramercy Tavern and other restaurants, and PB and J is the most American thing,' Uskokovic said. Hani's is a simple, ultra-clean space with a few booths and counter chairs, although most customers take their purchases out. Doughnuts, buns, croissants and rolls gleam inside a glass case. A sign lists a rotating lineup of sandwiches. 8 Hani's, located in the east village, takes a space formerly run by Dunkin' Donuts, and the chain's conspicuous 'D' logo is still on the door. EMMY PARK 8 Hani's turkey club sandwich eschews the traditional third slice of bread to pack in plenty of filling, complemented with a chunky pistachio and kale pesto. EMMY PARK 8 A tripple chocolate chunk cookie topped with sea salt from Hani's. They certainly don't skimp with these chunks! EMMY PARK For me, the life-changer was the PB & J. I've eaten the combo in every conceivable form since I was a child, even including a peanut-butter-and-jelly lobster nightmare in Miami. Hani's version, for a mere $6, laughs at all of them. Like the bakery items, it's meant to be 'nostalgic, but artisanal,' Uskokovic said. The single, thick slice of milk bread, which like all baked goods is made in-house, is toasted to a crackling turn. The peanut butter is ground in-house from Bazzini peanuts. Thick raspberry jam was from locally grown fruit. Unless you want to make a mess, I advise attacking the open-face sandwich with a fork and knife. Think comfort food sent to finishing school. It was as satisfyingly full-on tongue and palate as a juicy steak, but more fun with its interplay of creamy peanut butter and sweet jam atop the crusty bread — the summer picnic lunch of my dreams. 8 The bakery counter at Hani's — where hungry customers usually clean them out of stock by 3 p.m., hours before closing. EMMY PARK 8 The interior of Hani's bakery, located at 67 Cooper Square. EMMY PARK 8 A 'deliciously gooey' malted milk-glazed cinnamon bun from Hani's. EMMY PARK The turkey club ($17) needs 15 minutes to assemble, and is worth the wait. It's a skyscraper of a sandwich using two slices of buttery, multigrain bread, rather than the common three. Lightly salty turkey slices share the space between them with lots of crisp bacon, orange and gold tomato slices and pistachio and kale pesto. 'We make the pesto a bit chunky,' Ukoskovic said. The result has a pleasing, tapenade- like texture. Hani's baked confections have a timeless quality that made me forget Cronuts. The best-sellers are the triple-chunk Valrhona chocolate cookie and lusciously moist, malted milk-glazed cinnamon buns. But my choice was raspberry tea cake, a gluten-free number made with almond cake, labneh cream (strained yogurt), Mexican herbs and sugar. The almond flour is made with corn milk drawn from a Brooklyn granary. It's just $6.50, less than you'd spend on a slice of commercial layer cake in a diner. Hani's is open only from 7:30 a.m. daily on Monday through Thursday until 4:30 p.m., although they tend to run out of many items by 3. It's open until 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, but Uskokovic said they're adding from 6-10 p.m. on those days. 'There's always a line outside on weekends. We apologize to our neighbors about it and we bribe them with treats,' he laughed.
Eater
24-06-2025
- Business
- Eater
After 24 Years, Tom Colicchio Changes the Menu at His Iconic Restaurant
Plus, three new places to eat at Grand Central – and more intel Jun 24, 2025, 2:51 PM UTC Ahead of the Flatiron restaurant's 25th anniversary next year, Craft (43 East 19th Street, at Park Avenue South) is segueing from a family-style menu to a la carte starting today, says chef and owner Tom Colicchio. The Bravo Top Chef judge who oversees his restaurant, along with nearby Vallata, says when he opened over two decades ago, he was still the chef at Gramercy Tavern. And unlike many restaurants at the time, his tastes were veering toward very simple, pared-down, seasonal dishes diners would share at the table. But lately, he has been a bit restless when it comes to the Craft menu. And he has paid attention to two things: One, he wants to be more creative. Two, post-pandemic, 'fewer people are sharing,' he says. He wants to be more responsive to customers in terms of changes in how they want to dine. In addition to a la carte, the menu will include a daily tasting option. First course picks include fluke crudo along with dishes like ricotta agnolotti with peas, favas, and morels. For mains, there's a rabbit mortadella main course, along with items like roasted cod with razor clams and sea beans. He says a through line is that he's still focused on seasonal ingredients. Chef de cuisine Grayson Altenberg is steering the kitchen, while beverage director Cheron Cowan oversees the bar and wine selection. Prices are still a work in progress. A trio of new restaurants is opening in Grand Central (89 East 42nd Street, at Park Avenue). A Penn Station mainstay for 20 years, Tracks Raw Bar & Grill is bringing its oysters and railroad memorabilia to the new Grand Central Madison terminal this summer. Palladino's Steak & Seafood is also closer to opening. The space comes from former NYPD officer-turned-Texas restaurateur Joseph Palladino and chef Sam Hazen, with design by Rockwell Group. And San Wei, a noodle and bubble tea shop with surprising pastrami in Elmhurst, will offer a menu of hand-pulled noodles and boba later this season. Momofuku Noodle Bar in the East Village (171 First Avenue, at East 11th Street) is launching a dinner series called Noodle Nights, kicking off next month. The series of one-night collaborations pairs chef Pablo Vidal with neighborhood spots from Richard Ho of Ho Foods on July 15; Eric Sze of 886 on September 17; and Trigg Brown of Win Son on October 14 (there's no event in August). Each night features a bun, noodle bowl, and a wild card dish created by the guest chef and Vidal. Tickets for the first event are live on OpenTable.
Time Out
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Photograph: Courtesy Miss Ada
Tomer Blechman didn't set out to become a chef. Moving to San Francisco from Tel Aviv back in 2005, his intentions were of a holistic nature, looking for a career in acupuncture and massage. But once those didn't pan out, he decided to take his calling for healing in a different route, starting with what we eat. The aspiring chef sharpened his knives at Bar Bolonat and Gramercy Tavern before debuting with Miss Ada in 2017. Back in 2018, we praised the Fort Greene eatery for its "verdant platter of herb-dyed green falafel as crisp on the outside as it is tender on the inside." As for the hummus masabaha with a crown of lamb shawarma, we said it was "nothing short of a religious experience, especially when paired alongside their fluffy pita for scraping the plate clean." Years later, we still sing the same praises, with verses dedicated to the late-night skewers such as the Kofte Kebab that spills out with pine nuts, lashed with a zippy habanero relish. AM specials follow suite in their greatness, like the flaky Malawach and the challah French Toast drizzled with dollops of an airy labne mousse that begs to be licked clean. The vibe: Miss Ada is a cozy find with pinewood banquettes and round bulbs that glow over the marble bar. The back of the space houses a community table, made to encourage conversation over plates of pillowy pita. The food: Blechman roots around the Middle East with all manner of mezze and dips and skewers, plus brunch specials that range from massive Bourekas and a warming Chocolate Babka. The drinks: The drinks call out to Israel, most evident in the Dead Sea cocktail with a blend of guava, mezcal and mint and the arak-forward Thyme After Thyme, balanced with gin, egg, and, naturally, thyme.
New York Times
05-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Top 10 Reader Favorites From the 100 Best New York Restaurants
On Tuesday, we published our 2025 list of the 100 Best Restaurants in New York City, including a ranked top 10. Using our new checklist feature, readers were able to tell us their favorites — or at least the ones they had visited most — and the ones they wanted to try. Here are the 10 most-visited spots. They include several longstanding New York destinations, but also a couple of relative newcomers. Some of the city's most celebrated fine-dining rooms appear, but so does a Brooklyn sandwich shop. (Down the list a bit, look for a major point of agreement between our critics and the dining public.) 1. Gramercy Tavern It's little surprise that so many readers have found their way to the convivial spaces of this bona fide New York classic. It has been the domain of many notable chefs over its 31 years, including Tom Colicchio and the pastry virtuoso Claudia Fleming, who opened the restaurant in 1994. Something of an in-the-know option for years, the front tavern room now goes full-tilt, and can be harder to get into than the main dining room. But walk-in bar spots are still a great option. 2. Le Bernardin Like Gramercy Tavern, Le Bernardin has longevity on its side: The restaurant, perched at No. 3 on our top 100, first received four stars from The New York Times in 1986, and has kept those four stars in every review since, most recently in 2023. As our critic Melissa Clark put it, Eric Ripert, the chef since 1994, 'consistently takes big swings, like his stunning signature ellipse of pounded raw tuna layered with foie gras, and somehow never misses. Even mild-mannered fluke — enveloped in a fragrant dill- and yuzu-infused apple broth — vibrates with flavor in his expert hands.' 3. Via Carota Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
