Trudie's, Capitaine, and Titán, Oh My!
Plus a speakeasy, free dumpling workshops, a new Myka, an open call, and more.
Friends,
I’m heading to the Knicks parade and we’ve got a packed Thursday morning here on The Strong Buzz. I’m sharing news of three great openings — Trudie’s Tavern, Titán, and Capitaine — an open call for back of house team at Humm, and a full slate of fun for The Weekend Buzz with more fro-yo, a dumpling workshop, and a sultry speakeasy.
Trudie’s Tavern
RAD Restaurant Group’s (GERTIE, gertrude’s) Nate Adler, Rachel Jackson, and COO Emliy Tripp will open Trudie’s Tavern tomorrow in the former Buttermilk Channel space down on Court Street. The restaurant, led by chefs Mike Cain (GERTIE, gertrude’s) and Eli Friedman (Edith’s, Mile End Deli) is rooted in classic New York taverns and American supper clubs set up with a warm nostalgic vibe that feels like you’re visiting family in the ‘burbs, maybe Jersey, a house with front porch, an eat-in-kitchen, the radio on, a sprawling yard on a sunny day.
The restaurant continues to tell the story of idiosyncratic, Jewish-ish New York hospitality. While earlier concepts drew more directly from deli and appetizing traditions, Trudie’s leans into a broader American tavern format with a raw bar with oysters, crab claw dijonnaise, and daily crudos and can’t-stop-at-one bar snacks like house-baked pretzels with hot honey mustard (made by GERTIE baker Milly Berman), one “big” potato pancake with seasonally rotating toppings, and pigs in a blanket.
The focal point of the menu is a rotisserie program built around chicken that comes with house chicken sauce, schmaltzy potatoes and dill and sour cream cucumber salad, and a rotating case of sides that will follow the Greenmarket: creamed greens, Rotisserie Cabbage with Dill & Anchovy, butter beans with roasted tomato vinaigrette, and a Boston bibb wedge salad with crispy chicken skin and tahini ranch. The menu also includes a burger, a nice steak, a housemade “handkerchief” pasta, some fish and a limited supply of their “over-sized schnitzel for 2,” alongside the “big potato pancake” (aka an oversized latke).
Trudie’s Tavern opens Friday, June 19th at 524 Court Street. Hours of operation will be 4-10 pm Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday (closed Tuesdays) and 4-11 pm on Friday and Saturdays, with dinner service to start and brunch to follow later in the summer. Learn more at trudies.nyc and follow along at @trudiesnyc.
Capitaine
Capitaine, the new restaurant and bar from Cody Pruitt and Jacob Cohen, the team behind Libertine and Chateau Royale, will also open in the West Village tomorrow, June 19. Capitaine takes the place of their rustic Parisian bistro, Libertine. In its new life as Capitaine, the space is reimagined as a seafood tavern inspired by those found across Europe and New York’s great oyster bars. The menu is primarily seafood, but they’ll also be doing tavern classics like a Wagyu burger. The restaurant is designed as an all-day destination, with indoor and outdoor seating and a reimagined mid-century interior. Capitaine will open with evening and weekend brunch, with weekday service to follow later this summer. Don’t worry; their freezer cold Martinis will still be the best in the city.
Capitaine opens Friday at located at 684 Greenwich Street.
Titán
Alan Delgado (founder of Los Burritos Juarez) and Ivy Mix (Leyenda (RIP) and Whoopsie Daisy), opened Titán last night, their new Mexican spot located in the former Gran Electrica space in DUMBO. Delgado’s menu of fine Mexican cooking includes carne asada tacos with Chihuahua cheese, cod in masa tempura with slaw, and a line of fresh ceviche-adjacent aguachiles.
But the bar here is as exciting as the food, because Ivy’s focusing on both seasonality (for now that means cantaloupe, carrots, oranges, lime, tomatillo, and habanero) alongside the region’s native distillates and spirits like charanda (a Michoacán rum), Oaxacan aguardientes, and eaux de vie. She pouring Micheladas with seasonal sangritas and Leyenda margs on draft. Joining Ivy and Alan are managing partners Julian Brizzi and Lauren Broder (co-owners of Mediterranean Dumbo restaurant Celestine and Boerum Hill bar Grand Army). Broder also designed the 1824 landmarked building to feel like a dreamy Mexican casita with limewashed walls, terracotta finishes, tiles, greens, archways, wooden beams, and shelves packed with plants. They’re also serving outside in that big beautiful patio you probably remember from Gran Electrica days.
Titán is located at 5 Front St. and is open Wednesday through Sunday 5pm-10pm.
Humm Open Call
11 Madison’s chef and owner Daniel Humm, as you may have heard, is opening an eponymous 200-seat restaurant in the former En Brasserie space located at 432 Hudson Street. Yesterday on Instagram he posted an open call for his back of house team, writing, “Restaurants begin with the people who bring them to life. Next week we’re hosting two open calls for @hummrestaurant. If you’re passionate about hospitality and want to build something from the very beginning, we’d love to meet you.” Bring your resume to 11 Madison on Monday June 22, from 12pm-2pm.
Now for your Weekend Buzz, I’ve got a full lineup: a new Fro-Yo opening, a speakeasy to get lost in and a free al fresco dumpling making class that will take you to Georgia.
