All stories about "Ken Friedman"
Ken Friedman may have more to celebrate this week than the successful opening of the Rusty Knot. Word is he may have a new (celebrity) companion as well: "Ken Friedman, the man behind the Spotted Pig and the newly opened Rusty Knot is, according to an eyewitness (?!) dating Robin Wright who until recently was Robin Wright Penn...from our tipster, 'The man is smitten and she's loving every minute of it.'" [My Memoirs]
Monday Opening Report: I Sodi, Duane Park, Rusty Knot Certified Open, Batch Almost Ready
This is the Monday Opening Report, a regular feature that provides the precise status of venues reported as open elsewhere. As per standard operating procedure around here, your contributions are so very welcome.
I Sodi, back in its plywood stage
1) West Village: At the beginning of February, TONY reported on the transformation of former Puff and Pao space into I Sodi, a new Italian restaurant from Rita Sodi with chef Michael Genardini of Alto and L’Impero. Today's NYMag has it opening this week with details of: “a small, weekly-changing menu, a compilation of classics like artichoke salad with shaved Parmigiano, lasagne, and salt-baked branzino.” Phone calls to the restaurant confirm. Status: Certified Open. 105 Christopher Street; 212-414-5774. [NYM]
2) West Village: Last week we spoke to Pichet Ong about the opening of long-plywooded sweets shop, Batch, who told us it would be opening "very soon." In today’s NYMag, it’s listed as opening this week, with some description: “The confections, too, depart from standard cupcake-parlor fare, with Asian-inspired yuzu-shortbread sandwiches, coconut-calamansi layer cake, Thai-tea tiramisu pudding, and durian ice cream.” Status: Not open, via walk-by. Phone line gives the busy signal. 150b W. 10th Street, 212-929-0250. [NYM]
Tribeca, and an update after the jump>>Opening Report Coda: Rusty Knot Soft Opens Tonight
Urban Daddy has it that The Ken 'Spotted Pig' Friedman's new divey far West Village bar the Rusty Knot is opening to the public tomorrow with a soft opening tonight. We'd be suspicious (since no one else reported on this) if there weren't reports of a staff meeting earlier this week. Buckle in folks, here are the details:
"Ken Friedman (The Spotted Pig) with the all-star cast of Taavo Somer (Freeman's), Tobey Maloney (Milk & Honey) and a Momofuku alum. The result is a detail-rich, high-pedigree Manhattan cocktail spot colliding with a kitsched-out cruiseliner and an old-school tiki room...· All Aboard [UD (with subscription)]Make your way to the bamboo-paneled bar—past the large, dingy fish tank and the trophy fish mounted above the pool table—and you'll find a bar dedicated to the lost art of rum. That means you'll get classic tiki drinks, served in a coconut or a plastic totem glass, but made with homemade bitters...you might think about settling in for an ice-cold beer...nibbling on a few pigs-in-blankets, throwing back an oyster or two and watching the sun fade away over the Hudson."
· BLOCKBUSTER: Spotted Pig, Freemans Honchos Teaming on Rusty Knot [~E~]
photo credit
Ken Friedman has a nice chat with the Bruni on his blog about his new project the Rusty Knot and how much he doesn't want publicity for it. For someone trying to keep a project under wraps, a high profile interview with Franktastic seems like the perfect way to fly under the radar: "Mr. Friedman said that the proliferation of dining blogs, all eager to have and send out the first words about a restaurant, creates a dangerous possibility that diners’ interest in a project will be sated too soon." Yet he goes on: "He said it would be modeled after a classic 'East Village-style dive bar' and would have a pool table and juke box. But he said the food, while casual on the surface, would be better than a person might expect in such a setting...he said that he couldn’t resist snapping up the old West space. 'It's the best sunset in New York,' he said." [Diner's Journal]
BLOCKBUSTER: Spotted Pig, Freemans Honchos Teaming on Rusty Knot
The Rusty Knot, soon
So, how's about we go ahead and blow your minds now? Ken Friedman (Spotted Pig, John Dory) and Taavo Somer (Freemans, Bowery Hotel) have teamed up on a bar and restaurant. The king of the hottest restaurant on the East Side and the guy behind April Bloomfield's west side sizzler are doing a collab. Truth. Located in the former West Space at 425 West Street, the place is going to be called, we think, The Rusty Knot, complete with a nautical dive bar motif, designed by Somer, the guy who brought us such atmospheric gems as Freemans and the Bowery Hotel. A bowl of gnudi's toss from the Spotted Pig,— actually, a rickshaw ride away, if Friedman's promises of gratis rides between the venues pan out — it's Friedman's second West Village project, and something of a shocking twist, since we were expecting the John Dory to be his next big thing.
From a West Village correspondent who got a look at Rusty Knot space this past weekend:
Want to know what the inside looks like? >>There's a gathering of sorts for the TV cameras this afternoon, sometime after 4pm, at doomed 14th Street coffee shop Sucelt, favorite of Ken Friedman and others. The place is still slated to close its doors for the final time on December 24. [VNY]
Vanishing New York blogger randomly meets Spotted Pig owner Ken Friedman at doomed 14th Street diner Sucelt, photographs Friedman enjoying empanada, issues a challenge for Ken to save the joint. [Vanishing NY]
Spotted Pig/John Dory owner Ken Friedman gets profiled in this week's Observer. Revelations include: "That neighborhood [10th Avenue between 15th and 16th streets] has no late-night, fun hangout kind of bar-slash-restaurant. So [John Dory]'ll end up being that"; "Maybe we'll do a place like [Katz's] someday. Can you imagine it with booze? With tattooed bartenders serving all night?" [omg—ed]; "I want to make money." Fact: we love this man. [NYO]
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