2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:20
The life of Joe Bastianich, especially that of his family, are a perfect Hollywood tale about the American dream: the blind transfer to New York, disorientation, inclusion and success with restaurants.
Today in the words of Celebrity Net Worth, the site that estimates the earnings of VIPs, the protagonist of Masterchef is "a TV star, bestselling author and restaurateur with a fortune of 15 million dollars".
It owns four wineries between Argentina and Italy, a ham factory in San Daniele, and 25 restaurants in partnership with Mario Batali, celebrity chef of evident Italian origins, another perfect incarnation of the American self-made man.
The two, who are also Oscar Farinetti's partners in all megastores Eataly from North and South America, are about to inaugurate a new Italian restaurant in New York - The mermaid- ten years after their best known restaurant, Del Posto.
Something more than Orsone, the Italian club in Cividale del Friuli, less casual than Babbo, a small New York institution or the more recent Lupa but, according to the American site Eater, nothing too exclusive.
Golden rules imposed by Bastianich and Batali: delicious but highly technical cuisine; welcome and warmth, an impressive bar at the center of the project.
Before La Sirena, the place on 9th Avenue belonged to the La Bottega restaurant; the two dining rooms were separated by a patio overlooking the street, which made it difficult to serve food at the right temperature; to use all the large space of at least 300 seats it was necessary to close one side of the patio.
The scenographic solution is a gigantic central bar, the Caesarstone Bar. The patrons will enter here, in a large room with high ceilings and Portuguese handcrafted tiling, the classic azulejos: a perfect place to relax and pass the time.
Long the cocktail list with at least 24 drinks inspired by the Italian tradition.
The appearance of the dining rooms is less mundane than the bar, characterized both in the surfaces and in the furniture by white and gray colors inspired by the 60s, the same decade in which the building that houses the modern restaurant was designed.
Each room will have about one hundred seats which in the warmer months will rise to 150 by opening the sliding glass walls that give access to the patio. Two further spaces upstairs with the retractable roof will allow diners to dine under the stars.
La Sirena could have a great appeal for the wealthy population of the area thanks to the menu with a clear Italian imprint: appetizers (crispy provolone with lemon salad), pasta (garganelli with capon ragù), main courses of meat and fish (braised duck or grilled prawns and spicy octopus batter) and sweets (babà al Campari).
Breakfasts and brunches will arrive shortly.