The Strong Buzz

The Strong Buzz

Seahorse opens at the W Union Square

Your weekend plans just got better.

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Andrea Strong
Sep 25, 2025
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The bar at Seahorse (photos by Michael Kleinberg)

Happy Thursday my friends!

Whatcha doing this weekend? If I may, I think you’ll want to try John McDonald’s gorgeous new restaurant in the freshly renovated W Union Square. Seahorse has just opened and it’s pretty special. The menu by chef John Villa (remember him from Pico?) is, as you might imagine, seafood-focused with lots of crudo and a raw bar of your dreams. Villa’s main courses lean heavily on ingredients sourced across the street at the Union Square Greenmarket: grilled branzino is perked up with salsa verde and charred trevisano; Maine cod is topped with green olive tapenade and late summer tomatoes; Steelhead Salmon comes in a citrusy sorrel emulsion with chanterelles and cipollini; and a classic Dover Sole comes with sauce Meuniere. For carnivores, he’s also doing a Pan Roasted Amish Farm Chicken, a NY Strip, and a Duck a L’Orange. Don’t sleep on his Triple Cooked Fries.

Chef John Villa's menu at Seahorse is part old school New York part seafaring tavern. (photos by Michael Kleinberg)

Designed by The Rockwell Group, the room has a vintage maritime vibe with lots of dark wood paneling and striped yacht-inspired floors, aquamarine fish scale tiles, plus a whimsical, nautical mural giving a Moby Dick vibe at the center of the space. The bar is its own sexy thing, a u-shaped perch perfect for drinks before or after dinner. Get a table here!

I hope to see a lot of you on Monday evening at The Yacht Club by Crew for The Strong Buzz Oyster 101 Workshop. Tickets get you a one-hour lesson with Oyster Master Guild’s Julie Qiu and Yacht Club’s Oyster Director Lars Viola, plus snacks and oysters to eat under a late summer sky. Tickets are $50 each and available here!

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Your Weekend Buzz includes intel on a food crawl in Carroll Gardens, A Bake-Off in Queens and a Sunday Roast with a stellar winemaker. Have a great one and see you Monday!

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