NYC NOW - Midday News: Early Signs Show Congestion Pricing Easing Traffic, New Law Tackles the Sale of Restaurant Reservations, and Eater NY Highlights Hottest New Restaurants in Manhattan

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

It's still early, but there are signs that traffic in at least one part of Manhattan may be easing under congestion pricing. Meanwhile, a new law in New York bans third parties from selling restaurant reservations without permission. Plus, WNYC’s David Furst speaks with Eater NY editor Melissa McCart about a few of the hottest new restaurants in Manhattan.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, January 8th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. It's too soon to know exactly how much traffic is being reduced in Manhattan. Now that congestion pricing is live, experts and government officials are still collecting data. But one looked downtown at Varick Street, for instance, next to the Holland Tunnel during yesterday's evening rush hour, suggests the tolls are already having quite an impact. Just ask Shirley Matthews.

She's been directing traffic on the business street for more than a decade. She says she's never seen it so empty. We're shocked. I never expected to see this. And I've been in New York for almost 45 years. I've never seen it like this. The $9 daily charge for cars entering in Manhattan and south of 60th Street began Sunday morning. The tolls dropped to 225 overnight. That's actually cheaper than the subway fare. The so-called black market of restaurant reservations soon could be a thing of the past in New York State. A new law prohibits third parties from selling restaurant reservations without permission.

Amy Zowl runs operations at Coat, Korean Steakhouse, and Kokodok in the Flatiron District. She says sellers on websites such as appointment trader are hurting the industry by scooping up all reservations and then selling them at a premium. The no-show rates were crazy for the restaurant because if the bad actors were swiping up reservations and not able to actually sell them, that means all of those reservations were not actually being sat. But appointment trader founder, Jonah's phrase, says he thinks the law banning automated bots scooping up reservations would be more effective.

29 with sunshine right now. Upper 20s for a high today feeling colder there at 10 degrees with nearly 40,000. mile and hour wins. Stay tuned for more news after the break. On WNYC, I'm David First. As the new year begins and as the holiday season draws to a close, it's time to cut back on all of those fancy meals and get sensible about dining again. In response, our friends at Eater, New York say nonsense. Here to help us focus on the next special occasion and dining out in stock.

in January is Melissa McCart, the editor of Eder, New York. They just published a list of the hottest new restaurants in Manhattan. Melissa, welcome back and happy new year. Happy New Year. Thanks so much for having me, David. I sort of hate to start with this, but do you have any dining resolutions for the new year? Unfortunately, I do not. So maybe it's cook at home twice a week or something like that. Okay, dining at home more often, you're going to offer the cook. Completely opposite advice today. So let's hit a few highlights. What's first? Okay. Right before the holidays, Shea Fifi opened on the Upper East Side by Joshua and David Foklier. Can you spell the name of the restaurant for us? Sure. It's C-H-E-Z-F-I-F-I. Okay, Sheaf-F-F-I. So Shea-F-F-F-E-F-E-F-E. So Shea-F-F-Fee is from the brothers behind

Michelin-Stard Sushi Nas and Nas 17, but it is not. a sushi restaurant. And it is in fact a restaurant that serves a collection of French and Basque dishes that the owner's late mother used to love. And how's the food? The food is fantastic. It's the kind of place where I'd order a couple of dishes to share with the table. There's a half or a whole chicken with foie gras that served with a lovely side salad. There's a Basque Devil's crab that you eat right out of the shell with your fork. If you're not willing to commit to full dinner, there's an arty cocktail bar upstairs that has snacks and terrific cocktails, and you are just inches away from artworks by Calder and Murrow. Fascinating. So these aren't prints on the wall

here? Absolutely not. It is a very polished space. Not a cheap night out. Okay. So what's next? Okay, this is not on our list yet, but it opened right before the holidays. It's called Danny and Coops, and it is at 151 Avenue A at East 10th Street. Basically, what this is is a Philly Cheese Steak place from a guy from Philadelphia who owns a pretty famous pizzeria called Angelo's and 12-time Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper. Okay, the place is called Danny and Coops Cheese Steaks. So is that primarily what they're serving? Absolutely.

The Philadelphia owner of Angelo's Pizzeria is not going to come into New York City and make pizza from Philadelphia, but rather they're just serving cheese steaks. It'll be a fun experience because you're basically waiting in line with other people and there's a camaraderie and a buzz around the story. I mean, it's a Bradley Cooper restaurant. Like, how crazy is that? And naturally, he's going to be there serving the cheese steak. to you? Apparently he has been there. So you might have a Bradley Cooper sighting.

All right. That will definitely help create some buzz. And what's one more? What's another location we can try? Crane Club is another new restaurant. It is an over-the-top fancy restaurant. One of the reason why it's getting a lot of buzz is because a two Michelin-starred team, Melissa Rodriguez, the chef and Jeff Katz, joined up with Tao Group to reopen a restaurant in what used to be Alcorro and before that, Del Posto. It is really, it's almost like being in a movie set when you're in there. The bar is really happening. There might be some ladies in like head to toe sequin dresses. There's red velvet seating. There are people pushing like a bar cart filled. with caviar and oysters.

It's kind of a wild scenario with all types of characters. This is over the top fine dining in New York City. You describe it as red velvet seating, and I'm looking at some photos now on the web. And yes, red velvet curtains, red velvet seating, the works. Absolutely. Melissa Rodriguez is an incredible chef, and the food is really memorable.

It's the kind of place where I'd save money to go or I might sneak into the bar and get a dish and a really nice glass of wine. One of the treats that I loved was a starter. And, you know, the Italian-American spolietel, it's like a flaky pastry that has semolina and ricotta inside and candied fruit. Well, this is a savory version. It's stuffed with what seems like ricotta, very small, no bigger than the size of like half of your finger.

and then it's topped with caviar, and it is incredible. But if caviar is not your thing, the vegetables, all of them are amazing. There's like Caraflex cabbage. Cabbage is having a moment. There's a potato and apple gratin. There's my tape mushrooms with green peppercorns. And then there's like a seafood spaghetone, which is a terrific dish. So I might get the seafood spaghetone and one of the vegetables and call it a night.

Okay. So from red velvet seating to cheese steaks, we have a lot of options here. And for the full list of your hottest new restaurants in Manhattan, you can visit Eater, New York. Editor Melissa McCart, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date, for the latest news headlines and occasional deep times.

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