Which new restaurant in the Village is the hardest to get into this fall? Most people would say Humm, Daniel Humm's place on Hudson Street. They'd be thinking of the dining room. The Village's new places are gated by their format: how many seats there are, when service runs, and whether the kitchen cooks one fixed meal. Sort the season's openings by those rules and a tighter neighborhood turns out to be one of the easier ones to walk into.
The marquee opening has a door you can walk through
Humm opened on Saturday, October 10, at 435 Hudson Street, on the corner of Leroy Street. It's the casual sibling of Eleven Madison Park. Eater NY reported that reservations "went fast." The menu is entirely à la carte, with larger proteins priced from $48 to $125, and the $125 dish is meant for two. A full tasting at Eleven Madison Park runs $385 per person.
The restaurant's own booking page sets out a policy that doesn't make the headlines:
"We welcome walk-ins and reservations for both dinner and drinks in our dining room, bar, and lounge areas. Our restaurant is open seven days a week from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm."
That comes from Humm's Resy page. The same page says the bar and lounge serve a separate menu of snacks and lighter fare, while the full menu is served in the dining room. All reservations open at noon three weeks before the date, and walk-ins are taken in every part of the room. Anyone who lives a few blocks away can try the bar any night of the week, starting at 5.
The smallest new room only takes walk-ins
Bar à Part sits at the opposite end of the scale on Bedford Street. It opened on Wednesday, October 7, at 72 Bedford, at Commerce Street, next door to Zimmi's and from the same team. It has 15 seats. Pastry chef Clodagh Manning, who previously worked at Lyle's in London, makes the savory and sweet pastries, and there's an extensive wine list.
In its review, The Infatuation counts six two-person tables and a narrow counter and calls the place walk-in only. It describes a short chalkboard menu that includes smoked salmon toast and apple charlotte. With that few seats, a booking system would have almost nothing to manage. At 15 seats, the only way in is to show up.
A few blocks east, Sworl opened on Saturday, October 10, at 192 Bleecker Street near MacDougal. It's a protein-focused frozen yogurt shop. It charges by cup size, with no weighing, and toppings such as coconut chips and protein cereal cost $1.50 each. It's a counter stop, so there's nothing to book.
Most of the new seats are open in daylight
The biggest share of new capacity this fall is open during the day, and none of it needs a booking.
H. Valley opened on September 23 at 569 Hudson Street. It's a neighborhood market from chef Austin Johnson, formerly of One White Street and Rigor Hill Market, and restaurateur Eytan Sugarman's Hudson Street Hospitality. Patch listed the stock as coffee, matcha, breads and pastries, breakfast sandwiches, weekend omelettes, prepared meals, ready-to-cook proteins, produce and housemade sauces. The market's website lists hours of Wednesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The opening coverage gave an 8 p.m. close, so the site is the one to go by. Eater NY noted that seating is limited and that prices run above an average corner grocery.
Out on Christopher Street near Weehawken, Camari Mick's Calabash opened for daytime service on Friday, October 2. Daytime runs Thursday through Sunday. The bakery case includes sticky buns, coconut canelés and beef patty croissants, and cornbread pancakes with salted maple sabayon are on the menu.
Rok Coffee and Tea, a matcha cafe that started in Los Angeles, opened its first New York location at 156 Seventh Avenue South in late August. The daytime list gets longer next month. Jeremy Fall's Drugstore has announced an opening for Saturday, November 14, at 172 West Fourth Street, with functional smoothies, breakfast, sipping broths and frozen kefir. Eater NY reports planned hours of Wednesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and $20 smoothies.
Where the calendar does the gating
The real scarcity this fall is in rooms that cook one meal at a fixed time. Calabash's dinner is the clearest case. Patch reports that dinner began October 9 with a single 6:30 p.m. seating. It's a five-course menu at $175 per person, including tax and nonalcoholic pairings, booked in advance through OpenTable. There's no alcohol, but there are fermented drinks and nonalcoholic cocktails. Patch places dinner on Friday and Saturday, while the OpenTable page shows Thursday and Friday hours, so check the booking page before planning around a particular night.
Two other new dining rooms book through Resy. Galo, chef Nuno Sousa's adega-style Portuguese restaurant at 142 West 10th Street, opened on September 15 and has a live calendar on Resy. Floradora, at 205 Thompson Street, opened on August 27 as a more casual neighborhood restaurant. It's run by co-owners Cody Pruitt and Jacob Cohen, with executive chef Vanessa Velez. Floradora's website lists dinner nightly from 5 to 10:30 p.m., weekend brunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and late-night cocktails and bites Thursday through Saturday from 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Floradora's late-night hours make it one of the few new rooms in the neighborhood still serving after 10:30.
| Place | Address | Opened | How you get in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humm | 435 Hudson St | Oct. 10 | Reservations open three weeks out; walk-ins welcome in dining room, bar and lounge, daily 5 to 10 p.m. |
| Bar à Part | 72 Bedford St | Oct. 7 | Walk-in only, 15 seats |
| Sworl | 192 Bleecker St | Oct. 10 | Counter, priced by cup |
| H. Valley | 569 Hudson St | Sept. 23 | Market, Wed. to Sun., 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Calabash, daytime | 183 Christopher St | Oct. 2 | Bakery and brasserie, Thu. to Sun. |
| Calabash, dinner | 183 Christopher St | Oct. 9 | One 6:30 p.m. seating, prepaid on OpenTable |
| Galo | 142 W. 10th St | Sept. 15 | Resy |
| Floradora | 205 Thompson St | Aug. 27 | Resy; late night Thu. to Sat. |
| Drugstore | 172 W. Fourth St | Announced Nov. 14 | Planned Wed. to Sun., 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
The fall also brought openings whose entry policies are still settling. Santo Taco, a taqueria from Cosme co-founder Santiago Perez, opened at 232 Bleecker Street on September 25. Its website lists hours of 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and until 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. El Camarón Peludo, a seafood-and-wine bar from Taqueria Ramirez co-owners Giovanni Cervantes and Tania Apolinar, opened at 20 Cornelia Street on September 16. Cafe Charmant, a French brasserie, opened at 340 Bleecker Street on September 15. Legion, a Southern-leaning restaurant, opened at 140 Charles Street on September 12.
The new names are moving into familiar spaces
Almost none of this fall's places needed new ground. They took over storefronts already built for food. Humm is in the space that housed En Brasserie, a longtime Japanese restaurant that closed last December. Floradora replaced Chateau Royale at 205 Thompson. Bar Etienne took over the Bandits space at 44 Bedford Street in August, with a team whose history includes Bar Valentina and Employees Only. Bar à Part grew out of the Zimmi's team expanding next door.
The same reuse shows up on the closing side. AnnTremet Cake closed its mousse-cake shop at 47 Eighth Avenue on October 12. Co-owners Annabelle Li and Peixin Lim are keeping their catering production going from Long Island City. Justine's on Hudson, the wine bar at 518 Hudson Street, served its final dinner on Saturday, October 17. The Village Reader reported that owner Justine Rosenthal teased a new venture for the same corner but hasn't said what it will be. On Bedford, Le Chêne co-owners Alexia Duchêne and Ronan Duchêne Le May are planning a members-only club, Le Chêne Privé, at No. 35. It doesn't have an opening date yet.
Because the new places are filling existing storefronts, the openings keep to the scale of the streets around them. Most are small rooms on Bedford, counters on Bleecker and markets on Hudson.
A Wednesday built around the rules
On a Wednesday, H. Valley, Santo Taco, Sworl, Bar à Part and Humm are all reachable on foot, and Drugstore's planned schedule adds a Wednesday stop after November 14:
- Morning at H. Valley, 569 Hudson Street. The market opens at 7 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday and stocks coffee, pastries and breakfast sandwiches.
- Afternoon on Bleecker. Santo Taco's posted hours begin at 11:30 a.m., and Sworl is a few blocks east at 192 Bleecker.
- Evening on Bedford. Bar à Part is walk-in only. Show up and wait for one of its six two-tops or a spot at the counter.
- Late evening at Humm, 435 Hudson Street. Walk-ins are welcome until 10 p.m. The bar and lounge serve the lighter menu.
On a weekend, add Calabash's daytime bakery on Christopher Street and Floradora's brunch on Thompson Street.
If a season of new storefronts on your block has you wondering what your own apartment is worth, Gregory Cohen offers a personalized market valuation and consultation, and we follow these Village blocks one corner at a time.
