opened a Soho branch of his Beverly Hills hit Croft Alley<\/a>, it\u2019s about building community.<\/p>\nAt the West Coast location, he set up a vintage red light on a bar that\u2019s visible from outside and which staff turn on to let both passersby and customers inside know that they\u2019re serving up free cocktails, Della Femina told Side Dish.<\/p>\n
Michael Della Femina recently opened Lily Pond, a Soho branch of his Beverly Hills hit Croft Alley. Courtesy of Lily Pond<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s become a fun little speakeasy thing for a number of years, and we will continue that tradition here,\u201d he said of the bigger of two Croft Alley restaurants in LA.<\/p>\n
\u201cLocals know that when it is on, cocktails are on the house. It has become a thing, really for the neighbors and people who work in the neighborhood. It\u2019s about the locals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we make a great martini, or so I\u2019m told.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Della Femina plans to bring the same approach to his latest offering, Lily Pond, which he described as a family affair \u2013 and which will feature the same kind of freebies he offered in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as we did in LA, we will give away lots of drinks and treats in New York City,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lily Pond, which recently opened in the West Village, is named after the East Hampton street near where Della Femina\u2019s family used to have a summer home.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as we did in LA, we will give away lots of drinks and treats in New York City,\u201d said Della Femina. Courtesy of Lily Pond<\/p>\n
Della Femina\u2019s wife Laurie will help him run the show, while their son Jack, who owns LA cafe Bravo Toast, will oversee coffee. Their younger son William, who owns Just Juice LA, will take care of fruity drinks at Lily Pond, while niece Annabel Kim is the social media and marketing director. Her parents are investors, and interiors are by family friend Daniel Benedict and Jack\u2019s wife, Allie.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project is inspired and supported by family and friends. I\u2019m hoping everyone will have a part,\u201d Della Femina said.<\/p>\n
Offering \u201celevated pub fare food\u201d \u2013 bistro dishes with French and Korean influences \u2014 he is aiming for a similar vibe to the fun East Hampton summers of his youth.<\/p>\n
Offering \u201celevated pub fare food\u201d \u2013 bistro dishes with French and Korean influences \u2014 he is aiming for a similar vibe to the fun East Hampton summers of his youth. Above, Sassy spicy salmon bowl. Courtesy of Lily Pond<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the source of countless parties and events that brought all of us together,\u201d he said of the family\u2019s old summer beach house.<\/p>\n
\u201cLily Pond hit us from a few different directions,\u201d Della Femina added, explaining that Monet\u2019s famed water lily paintings were an additional source of inspiration.<\/p>\n
Located by Smalls Jazz Club on 10th Street near West 4th Street, Lily Pond has something of a \u201cbodega riff,\u201d too, the founder said.<\/p>\n
Comfort food-inspired dishes include an egg salad special with a Sullivan Street Bakery bun. There\u2019s also a kimchi reuben, along with chopped salads and healthier fare \u2014 like a chicken salad wrapped in Shishi leaves to cut carbs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Lily Pond burger. Courtesy of Lily Pond<\/p>\n
The menu includes fluke tartar as \u201csort of an homage\u201d to the shuttered East Hampton restaurant founded by Della Femina\u2019s father Jerry \u2013 the ad legend whose memoir \u201cFrom Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor\u201d inspired the \u201cMad Men\u201d series.<\/p>\n
Featuring 25 seats, Della Femina described his latest restaurant as \u201creally intimate, a sweet little space.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s only offering mocktails until it gets a liquor license. Once it does, the restaurateur plans to start a Big Apple edition of his weekly, invite-only LA cocktail club called Martini Confidential.<\/p>\n
He plans to dole out plenty of goodies in addition to free cocktails from time to time.<\/p>\n
The Green \u201cGoddess\u201d salad. Courtesy of Lily Pond<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love to give out treats to our neighbors and regulars and new guests be it amazing cookies, martinis, waffles, champagne or other surprises,\u201d Della Femina said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a cheesy freebie, it\u2019s part of our hospitality ethos.\u201d<\/p>\n
We hear\u2026 that Chef Eyal Shani, of Shmon\u00e9, the Michelin-starred West Village eatery, is opening a new Miami eatery named Bella, with a second concept to be announced for Miami soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bella will be an Italian eatery \u2014 a first for the famed Israeli chef \u2014\u00a0and it is slated to open the week of Jan. 26 at the Liberty Park Hotel, the former South Beach Hotel in Miami Beach. The 1,500-square-foot space comes with 4,000 square feet of outdoor space and\u00a0110 seats<\/p>\n
In New York,\u00a0Shmon\u00e9\u00a0has kept its Michelin star with its current executive chef Orianne Shapira, a former dancer, who this month marks her year anniversary as executive chef. <\/p>\n
Chef Eyal Shani, of Shmon\u00e9, the Michelin-starred West Village eatery, is opening a new restaurant in Miami. Annie Wermiel\/NY Post<\/p>\n
Shmon\u00e9\u2019s\u00a0former star chef\u00a0Nadav Greenberg has launched\u00a0Or\u2019Esh<\/a>\u00a0in partnership with Catch Hospitality\u2019s Eugene Remm and Tilman Ferttita.<\/p>\n\u201cMy vision is to keep developing the kitchen \u2014 to stay curious, keep learning, and continue creating side-by-side with my team. Retaining the star meant so much to all of us,\u201d Shapira said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing the only Israeli restaurant in New York City with a Michelin star is a huge source of pride. I\u2019m proud to represent Israel in this way. I truly believe food brings people together, and being able to share that feeling \u2014 that connection \u2014 through our cooking is something very special to me,\u201d Shapira added.<\/p>\n
Shmon\u00e9, at 61 W. 8th St., has more seafood dishes now, with some Japanese influence, like Shapira\u2019s signature black cod in pepper sauce.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bella will be an Italian eatery\u00a0and it is slated to open the week of Jan. 26 at the Liberty Park Hotel, the former South Beach Hotel in Miami Beach. Isa Campomar<\/p>\n
The eatery has also expanded its wine program thanks to the opening of its sister restaurant,\u00a0Shmon\u00e9 Wine, next door. It hosts regular tastings with guest winemakers.<\/p>\n
Shani currently helms 60 locations globally with many in New York, including five Miznon locations; HaSalon, Port Sa\u2019id,\u00a0Shmon\u00e9,\u00a0Shmon\u00e9 Wine, Malka UWS and Malka DUMBO.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most restaurateurs would consider serving free drinks a losing proposition. For Michael Della Femina, who recently opened a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[288,289,48126,9,24,55,54,56,821,292],"class_list":{"0":"post-106328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-food-drink","10":"tag-jerry-della-femina","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-city-news","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-restaurants","17":"tag-side-dish"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}