No, that is not the dude from the Gin Blossoms or Better than Ezra. The man in this “lead singer from a nineties band head shot photo” is chef Andrew Carmellini, best known for bringing you all the delicious things you love at Locanda Verde.
Now that Locanda has established itself and proven to be a lasting success, Carmellini has just opened his next promising restaurant, The Dutch, which occupies the old Cub Room space in Soho. We hear it’s got a late night menu and an impressive cocktail list, which means we’ll probably roll in there at 2am sometime in the very near future, send out some illegible tweets, and then forget what we ate the next day. Don’t sweat the technique.
Check out five other places Andrew likes to eat in his Friday Fives below, along with a bonus round of sweet jams he hand picked to play in the restaurant. Blackalicious? Nicely done.
Andrew’s “Perfect For” Picks
Chronic Brunch
The Breslin (16 W. 29th St.) – “I love April’s Baked Egg with Spiced Tomato and Chorizo. It’s incredible.”
Vegetarians
Dirt Candy (430 E. 9th St.) – “I think what Amanda is doing at Dirt Candy in the East Village is pretty cool. If you can’t make a vegetarian happy there, then they’re just never going to be happy.”
Authentic Ethnic Eats
Chinatown Brasserie (380 Lafayette Street) – “Hands down the best dim sum in town. Nothing even comes close.”
People Watching
Raoul’s (180 Prince St.) – “I spent a lot of nights here while we were working on getting The Dutch open with a bottle of Chave and a very wide grin. Dubious (and awesome) late-night bar crowd here – very funny and highly entertaining.”
BYOB
Zafra Kitchen (301 Willow Ave – Hoboken, NJ 07030) – “An awesome spot with flavorful food – it makes picking wine fun. Small place, big soul.”
Andrew’s Hand Picked Jams for The Dutch
Woman to Woman by Joe Cocker (iTunes)
Free by Cat Power (iTunes)
Deception by Blackalicious (iTunes)
I Wanna Be Your Dog by Iggy Pop (iTunes)
Live Fast, Die Young by Rick Ross (iTunes)
