The Michelin-Starred Musket Room Team Is Opening a New Middle Eastern Restaurant in N.Y.C.
If Raf’s is the nexus of power lunch in New York City, Cafe Zaffri is about to become the see-and-be-seen spot for dinner.
The Levantine restaurant from the team behind Raf’s and the Michelin-starred Musket Room opens Saturday at the Twenty Two, a new hotel and members club in Union Square. Twin restaurateurs Jennifer and Nicole Vitagliano, executive chef Mary Attea, and executive pastry chef Camari Mick (some of our rising power players in American fine dining) seemingly have another hit on their hands, thanks to the delicate yet delectable dishes and the dramatic but not stuffy design.
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For the menu, Attea has drawn on her Lebanese heritage in plates that span the Mediterranean and Levant regions, featuring produce from the nearby Union Square Greenmarket. At dinner, that means starters like breads and spreads (three different types of bread with za’atar oil, eggplant dip, and labneh with trout roe), a melt-in-your-mouth lamb tartare, and perfectly crunchy fried eggplant that still retains the vegetable’s creaminess inside. Main dishes include a skewer service where you can choose two options from a list of six—octopus and harissa, skirt steak, veal sweetbreads, and more. There are a couple of pastas, a flaky grilled dorade, and lamb wellington, too.
When it comes to dessert, Mick has put together a sweet mezze for two that’s an absolute delight: Five cookies are paired with six frozen treats—the chocolate chip tahini cookie is a standout, and there’s nothing cuter than the tiny bowls of honeycomb labneh froyo, saffron and pistachio ice cream, and coconut rose sorbet, among other flavors. More traditional desserts get the same Middle Eastern twist, like baklava mille feuille and knafeh cheesecake.
To pair with, there’s both a lengthy cocktail and wine list. Mixed drinks range from the Saifi Square, a Martini variation with olive leaf and bay leaf, to the Smokey Robinson, which pairs Japanese whiskey and bourbon with smoked vermouth, cherry Heering, and arak. The wine list has many French options, but also includes labels from lesser-seen countries, such as Greece, Lebanon, and Palestine.
While Cafe Zaffri’s menu absolutely delights, it’s the restaurant’s design that really wows. The team worked with Post Company and Child Studio to reimagine what was once the Margaret Louisa Home for women, commissioned by Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt. Arriving to your meal, you’ll progress through several different spaces before landing in the main dining room: The bar room, for drinks before dinner, features velvet seating and Persian rugs. The garden atrium, where you can have breakfast and lunch, is centered around a reclaimed wooden fireplace from a European chateau. And the main dining room is surrounded by beautiful floral textured walls, with wood paneling and Tiffany glass–lit ceilings.
The quartet of women behind Cafe Zaffri will also be handling room service for the Twenty Two, along with the F&B offerings in the members lounge and a second members-only restaurant that will debut this fall. That’s reason enough to have us considering a membership.
Click here to see all the images of Cafe Zaffri.
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