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Who’s behind it: Earlier this winter, chef and restaurateur Michael White opened Santi in Midtown Manhattan. Located on the ground floor of Tishman Speyer’s 520 Madison Avenue, this is the latest restaurant—and the first in New York—from BBianco Hospitality, which White co-founded with business partner Bruce Bronster in 2020. But this isn’t White’s first venture within the building: The same space formerly housed Alto, one of the chef’s earliest successes, before it closed in 2011.
When it opened: Dec. 12, 2024
Why you should know about it: Over the past two decades, White has developed an impressive reputation in New York City fine dining. Before co-founding BBianco, he drew acclaim at Wine Spectator Grand Award winner Ai Fiori and Best of Award of Excellence winner Marea, though he is no longer connected to either restaurant. He also founded Vaucluse on the Upper East Side, which closed in 2020. (The space is now the new home of Daniel Boulud’s Café Boulud.) More recently, he and Bronster have rapidly built a portfolio that includes Mirabella in Miami Beach, Pegaso in Dallas, Levant in Puerto Rico and Paranza at the Atlantis Bahamas resort. They are planning to open a restaurant in Coral Gables, Fla., as well.
What’s on the menu: White has spent considerable time in Italy and France during his career, and this comes through on the Santi menu: Many dishes are Italian, but prepared with hints of French technique. Handmade pastas take center stage, including seafood orecchiette (with crab, urchin, lemon and breadcrumbs), busiate with mushrooms and truffles, and tagliatelle with ragu bolognese. Also of note are White’s seafood crudos (tuna, prawn and clam for instance) topped with fresh fruit, caviar and herbs.
The secondi include dishes like coda di rospo (monkfish wrapped in speck and served with red wine jus), faraona (guinea hen with mushrooms, cabbage and rosemary jus) and manzo (grilled steak with chickpea panella, salsa verde, lumache and Bordelaise red wine sauce).
What’s on the wine list: The 200-label list is overseen by beverage director Andreina Mayobre (formerly of Marea and Ai Fiori); Hak Soo Kim, formerly of Per Se, consulted on the program. Italy and France play the largest roles, with a focus on lighter, fresher wine styles to complement the acidity and delicate flavors of the cuisine. For white wines, French selections concentrate around Burgundy and Sancerre, and most of Italy is represented, from Alto Adige (with Cantina Terlano) to Sicily (with Benanti).
On the red side, there are bottles from Burgundy’s Armand Rousseau, Sicily’s Tenuta delle Terre Nere and Tuscany’s Tolaini. Guests will also find selections from a few domestic wineries like Kistler, Peter Michael and Ridge.
The design: Architecture firm Michaelis Boyd created five interconnected dining areas that are earth-toned and dreamlike, with sculptures and paintings, mostly portraits, throughout. (QR codes accompany some pieces to provide more information for guests). A striking slab of illuminated yellow onyx serves as the backdrop for the marble, horseshoe-shaped bar, which welcomes diners at the entrance. The bar area also features floor-to-ceiling windows with views of fountains on the building’s courtyard.—Greg Warner
The View Restaurant Reopens in Times Square Under New Direction
What’s happening: On Feb. 12, Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) opened its latest restaurant, the View, a two-level supper club and New York City’s only revolving eatery. Located in the Marriott Marquis—the hotel that hosts Wine Spectator’s annual New York Wine Experience—the new restaurant has been planned as a destination for the Times Square area.
“A friend of mine told me [recently] that Times Square is truly a representation of what America is,” beverage director Ricky Dolinsky told Wine Spectator. “[In the first week], we’ve had people from the Midwest coming in wearing matching family outfits, we’re serving locals and New Yorkers and theater crowds. They’re all in this Venn diagram that is Times Square. We are here to be accessible to them; we want this to be a place for not only hotel guests and tourists but also those who just want to be in a cool bar in Times Square after a long day at work.”
USHG was founded by New York–based restaurateur Danny Meyer, when he opened his first restaurant, Union Square Cafe, in 1985. Meyer has recently stepped into a new role as the group’s executive chairman. The company now has eight Manhattan restaurants (plus a bar and a taco stand) in its portfolio, Union Square Tokyo in Japan. It plans to expand to Boston in the near future.
“The View’s mission is simple: to capture the lively energy of Broadway’s Theater District, showcasing a familiar American menu whose dishes are even better than you ever knew they could be,” said Meyer in a press release. “It’s your new ‘night out on the town,’ where the floor just happens to rotate.”
What’s on the wine list: Dolinsky kept approachability in mind as he composed the wine cellar with USHG vice president of operations John Ragan (who oversees all wine programming for the group, including the Grand Award–winning list at The Modern). While the list sits at just over 100 selections, Dolinsky designed it so that a majority of the options are under $100, with picks from leading wineries like G.D. Vajra in Piedmont and Gramercy Cellars in Washington. Beyond the best-known regions, there are selections from Benanti in Sicily and Ravines in New York’s Finger Lakes.
“Because we are going for a [crossing of a] classic steak-house and supper-club, we want to make sure that we had wines that would pair well with those food offerings and feel right in the same setting,” said Dolinsky. While that means bottles of Napa Cabernet, Bordeaux and Burgundy, Dolinsky also looks beyond wineries’ best-known labels to maintain a lower point of entry. This includes Shafer’s TD-9 and Luigi Baudana’s Serralunga d’Alba. “You’re still getting the amazing producers and the quality they have,” Dolinsky added.
The design: The interior of the View was renovated by the renowned Rockwell Group design firm to function as “both a stage and a viewing platform,” according to a USHG press release, serving both as a spectacle itself and as a complement to the surrounding vista. Guests are welcomed on the 48th floor, where the elevator opens to reveal a large art deco–style painting that pays tribute to the surrounding Theater District. The lounge on this floor features armchairs and other cozy seating arrangements, and it’s anchored by a brass-accented bar. Diners follow the winding, plushly carpeted staircase down to the dining room on the 47th floor.
The food: The supper club–style fare is prepared by chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley, formerly executive chef at Stephen Starr’s St. Anselm in Washington, D.C., and corporate chef at Pastis in New York. The lounge serves a raw bar menu, while the dining room offers nostalgic dishes like jumbo lump blue crab cakes, black bass en papillote, lobster spaghetti alla chitarra and beef tartare studded with black trumpet mushrooms. One section of the menu is dedicated to steaks and chops, including a bone-in rib eye and double-cut American lamb chops.
The cocktails: Dolinsky also manages the bar program, which includes beverages like the Sancerre spritz (Sancerre, Aperol, grapefruit, lavender and soda) and the Kingston Margarita, accented with a jerk spice rub. Another savory cocktail is the Katz’s Martini, Dolinsky’s brisket fat–washed Martini rimmed with proprietary pastrami spices, which Meyer received exclusively from the famed Katz’s Delicatessen.—Julia Larson
At Seattle’s Canlis, a Family Partner and the Chef Will Soon Depart for New Projects
What’s happening: Earlier this month, Seattle Grand Award winner Canlis announced both that partner Brian Canlis will be departing his family’s historic restaurant, leaving ownership to his brother, Mark Canlis, and that executive chef Aisha Ibrahim will be heading out to open her own project. After nearly four years in that role, her final service at Canlis will be on Apr. 8.
Why it matters: Mark and Brian Canlis’ grandfather, Peter Canlis, opened Canlis in 1950 in a striking building overlooking Seattle’s Lake Union. Now a foundational restaurant for Pacific Northwest dining, it has held a Wine Spectator Grand Award since 1997, with around 2,600 selections and a cellar of 12,000 bottles today. The restaurant’s philosophy tells the story of the Canlis family’s more than 100 years in hospitality, from their roots in Greece and Lebanon to their restaurants in California and Hawaii. In 2007, Brian and Mark became the third generation to operate the iconic restaurant.
Ibrahim joined the Canlis team in 2021, succeeding chef Brady Williams. She came in with nearly two decades working in acclaimed restaurants across the San Francisco area, including Foreign Cinema and Manresa from chef David Kinch.
What’s to come: Brian Canlis is moving to Nashville to open a new fine-dining restaurant in partnership with hospitality leader and author Will Guidara, former co-owner of New York City Grand Award winner Eleven Madison Park. (The two have been friends since college.) The concept’s name and location have not yet been revealed.
Ibrahim is looking to open her own restaurant with her wife, Samantha Beaird, who has served as Canlis’ executive sous chef. According to The New York Times, they’re looking at bigger markets with more competitive dining scenes, such as New York City and Los Angeles. Ibrahim hopes to build a restaurant that showcases Filipino cooking from different regions. In the meantime, Canlis is looking for a new executive chef.—J.L.
Press Restaurant Welcomes a New Beverage Director
What’s happening: Earlier this month, Wine Spectator Grand Award winner Press Restaurant named Tyler Potts as its new beverage director. Potts is the latest to oversee the Napa Valley restaurant’s 10,000-bottle cellar, succeeding Master Sommelier Vincent Morrow, who helped the restaurant win its first Grand Award in 2022. (Morrow has moved to New York City, but not yet announced his next role.)
Press opened in 2005 in St. Helena, Calif., with a mission to create a cellar devoted entirely to Napa wine, especially Cabernet Sauvignon. Owner and Rudd vintner Leslie Rudd died in 2018, leaving the restaurant in the hands of his daughter, Samantha Rudd. After revitalizing its cellar (the restaurant says it has the largest collection of Napa wines in the world, while simultaneously expanding to feature wines from greater California) and bringing on chef Philip Tessier to move away from a steak-house menu (it now offers a tasting menu and a lounge menu), Press cemented its reputation as one of St. Helena’s leading restaurants.
Meet Tyler: Potts comes to Press by way of Denver, most recently serving as lead sommelier at Best of Award of Excellence winner Tavernetta (owned by Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey). Before that, he worked on the opening wine lists of Best of Award of Excellence winners One White Street and Clover Hill in New York City.
This isn’t Potts’ first time living in Napa Valley: He previously held internships at Spottswoode Winery. With his first internship in 2014, he looked to learn as much as he could about Napa in a short time. Eventually, Potts started studying wine lists, and the Press list became a key text. “It was a quick resource for me to read those and say, ‘These are the producers that I need to pay attention to,’” Potts told Wine Spectator. “It was pretty foundational in that sense.”
In his new role, Potts hopes to continue Press’ legacy as an advocate for Napa wines. “Restaurants have always been a mouthpiece for Napa,” said Potts. “Press is in a unique position to step out on a global platform. Napa has always relied heavily on tourism, but where there is tourism, there are delicious places to eat.”
Looking ahead, the Press team is opening a more casual food hall and market, Under-Study, on St. Helena Highway. Potts will be overseeing the wine program there as well.—J.L.
Michael’s St. Augustine Moves to a New Location
What’s happening: Chef Michael Lugo’s popular, Latin-influenced steak house, Michael’s St. Augustine, recently moved from 25 Cuna St. in St. Augustine, Fla., to the Hyatt Place St. Augustine hotel on 117 Vilano Road, about a 10-minute drive from the original spot.
“What excites me most is the ability to reimagine Michael’s in a fresh space while staying true to our culinary roots,” Lugo told Wine Spectator via email, noting that he’s been planning the move since summer 2024. “The new location allows us to expand our offerings, enhance the dining atmosphere and create memorable experiences.”
When the restaurant reopened: Jan. 21, following a Jan. 1 move
Why you should know about it: Michael’s has become a mainstay since opening as the Tasting Room in downtown St. Augustine in 2006. The restaurant has held Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards for its wine list, earning a Best of Award of Excellence in 2023. Before moving Michael’s, Lugo and his Viva Hospitality group opened the seafood-focused rooftop spot Pesca Vilano at the Hyatt in fall 2023. And in February 2024, the chef opened French restaurant La Nouvelle in St. Augustine’s historic Jefferson House.
What’s new at the table: “The menu has evolved to reflect our growth, with an even greater emphasis on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients,” Lugo explained. “While signature dishes remain, we’ve introduced new items.” With executive chef Natasha Olivera and the culinary team, Lugo offers dishes like beef carpaccio, braised beef empanadas, cast iron–cooked Patagonian red shrimp, and Kaluga caviar on potato blinis.
Steaks continue to be the centerpiece, including a 9-ounce filet mignon (wet-aged for 60 days), an 8-ounce Australian Wagyu strip and an 18-ounce Kansas City bone-in strip (dry-aged for 45 days). Guests can enhance their steaks with additions like colossal shrimp scampi and a blue cheese raviolo.
The wine list: With an 850-label list overseen by wine director Claudio Giordano, Michael’s still focuses on wines from Spain, California, Italy and France. The 25 wines on the by-the-glass list include picks like Mar de Frades’s 2023 Albariño Rias Baixas and San Giorgio’s 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Ugolforte. “We’ve refined the wine list to complement our evolving menu and new environment, while maintaining our core focus on bold, expressive wines,” said Lugo, explaining that the new space features improved wine storage.
The list features Champagnes from premier houses, including Piper-Heidsieck and Telmont, as well as Sauvignon Blancs from Spottswoode and Eisele Vineyard. There are steak-friendly Napa Cabernets from the likes of Beaulieu Vineyard and Shafer. And diners can expect a few non-alcoholic wines too, including Spanish bubbly.
The interior: Michael’s is now located within a spacious, subtly lit space at the Hyatt. Colorful art lines the walls, potted plants sit between wood tables and live performers regularly entertain on a grand piano. “The new space features a more contemporary design,” said Lugo. “The layout allows for improved flow, an intimate yet spacious feel.”—Collin Dreizen
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