Chef Andrew Carmellini Makes His Return To Fine Dining With The Opening Of Café Carmellini In Manhattan

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Café Carmellini

Hailing from New York haute spots like Locanda Verde, The Dutch, Lafayette, Carne Mare, Bar Primi, and more, thirty-year culinary veteran, Chef Andrew Carmellini, is making his highly-anticipated return to the luxury dining space with the opening of his career-defining restaurant, Café Carmellini in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood. The chef’s latest venture and signature restaurant honors his family’s name and their 120-year coffee business in Italy with a focus on modern interpretations of classic Italian and French dishes.

“Café Carmellini is New York at heart and Italian and French in spirit. My career began in fine dining at era-defining restaurants in New York City. After focusing successfully on more casual dining for 15 years, I felt a calling to return to fine dining.  Café Carmellini is the most personal restaurant of my career and the sum total of everything I am passionate about. Nestled in a magnificent and historic New York landmark,  Café Carmellini is my love letter to New York City. I want it to become a destination for New Yorkers and visitors to the city to feel transported, celebrated, and warmly welcomed,” Chef Carmellini shared.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Café Carmellini

Chef Carmellini’s cooking at his new spot salutes his mentorship with some of the country’s greatest chefs and his three decades of culinary experience honed in New York City. Drawing on various sources of inspiration, some of the dishes are an ode to a place like the Oysters à la Pomme’s reference to Normandy and Shrimp Colonnata, a nod to a village near his family’s hometown in Tuscany. The opening menu features new and surprising dishes like the decadent Lobster Cannelloni & Osetra and Red Snapper ‘Meunière,’ which is actually a carpaccio with meunière flavors. Carmellini is also revising some of his greatest creations like the Rabbit Cacciatore and the Duck Tortellini. The Scallops Cardoz pays homage to Chef Floyd Cardoz who Chef Carmellini worked with in the 1990s. Other dishes, like the Risotto del Giorno or the Coffee ‘Livornese’ Granita, are simply the storytelling of 30 years of cooking and serving guests.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Café Carmellini

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Café Carmellini

Inspired by Chef’s personal love for drinking wine and pairing it with his meals, the restaurant boasts a 1,800-bottle wine list prepared by a master sommelier and a team of six sommeliers. The comprehensive list celebrates the best-in-class French, Italian, and U.S. producers, complemented by a broad representation of progressive and illustrative producers from those countries, as well as Spain, Greece, Austria, and Germany. The list, with bottles from $70 to $10,000, offers hundreds of older vintages. More than 9,000 bottles, which were acquired at auction over the course of three years, are carefully stored on-site in a state-of-the-art wine cellar.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Café Carmellini

Located on the ground level of the luxurious, new Fifth Avenue Hotel at 250 Fifth Avenue, the stunning restaurant’s design is centered on two grand sculptural trees that animate the dining room’s double-height ceilings and high gloss wood and beveled mirror panels. They are surrounded by banquettes in a vibrant blue jewel tone. Juliet balcony seating offers guests a full view of the high-energy dining room and adds to the light, bright, and airy ambiance. A sense of theater is created by the open kitchen with marble counters and blue ceramic tiled walls. The intimate, high gloss timber bar sports a bronze railing while contemporary artwork contrasts with the neoclassical internal architecture with the room illuminated by oversized chandeliers of bronze and seeded glass.