Subterranean Restaurant News

When Atera opened in Tribeca in March, Grub Street told us chef Matt Lightner and co were planning to open a bar in the space under the restaurant.  Originally going to be called "The Office," it turns out the name is to be determined.

Plans for the new bar space include a separate kitchen with its own private dining room.  It will provide a place for diners to have coffee and reflect on all the foraged food a multi-course meal at the 17-seat chef's counter puts in their stomachs.

In the West Village, the laundromat space Ed Schoenfeld took over under RedFarm is closer to opening.  In an interview with Paper Mag back in April, Schoenfeld said he'd be taking over the laundromat June 1st.  "It's going to take us a few months to do it over. So by September 1st, middle of August, we'll have that space."

Update on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 11:59AM by Craig Cavallo

Ed Schoenfeld tells Digest NY that date is set for sometime "In the fall: Oct plus or minus."

The Copenzepi Takeover

New York Mag's Adam Platt awarded Atera four stars (out of five) last week.  That puts the restaurant at Exceptional, just one star away from the pinnacle, Ethereal category.

Atera chef Matt Lightner is an alum of Noma, Copenhagen's/The World's most fascinating restaurant since the closing of Spain's El Bulli.  Rene Redzepi is Noma's chef and he is a founding father of what is being referred to as New Nordic Cuisine.  Platt's review of Atera is another wave in the tsunami of attention being thrown in the general direction of Scandinavia.

Acme was awarded two stars by Pete Wells a few weeks ago.  The chef?  Noma vet Mads Reflund.  Frej is a pop-up at Kinfolk Studios in Williamsburg, serving a $45, five-course, Nordic influenced tasting menu three nights a week to anyone lucky enough to land a reservation.  The guys at Lucky Peach hung out with Rene in Issue #2, and in Issue #3, David Chang himself mentions the significance a stage at Noma means to an aspiring chef, and that commitment and discipline in the kitchen are just as relevant to technique and ingredients when it comes to Noma's success.

An article in The Wall Street Journal talks about "Life Beyond Noma," and discusses the culinary trend that has resulted as more and more chefs are passing through Noma's kitchen.

Atera and the Forest Have a Lot in Common

While Erik Torkell waits to review Atera, the new, wildly popular Tribeca restaurant from chef Matt Lightner, the guys at immaculateinfatuation think it's best to save your money for Brooklyn Fare.  "For that much money, we need every bite to be an out of the park home run, and there are some singles and doubles on this menu that had us wishing we could order a la carte."

Kickstart Your Way to Dinner

Eater reported yesterday that Erik Torkells, the man behind the Tribecacitizen blog, was trying to raise $300 on kickstarter so he could dine at the new Tribeca hot spot Atera.  Dinner at Atera runs $150 for the prix-fixe and another $90 for the wine pairing.  It turns out he's hit his goal, he's raised $315, so it looks like there's squab claw in Erik's future.