LA-Style Cafe Dimes Reopens in Its New LES Home Friday

Queens of the SoCal NYC scene Alissa Wagner and Sabrina DeSousa of Dimes are just about ready to reopen their sunny restaurant in its new, bigger home on the east end of Canal Street. Service will start with breakfast Friday morning, and the duo plan to host some friends and family for drinks tonight, but at the moment the space is still a bit rough around the edges. At this very moment, a construction team is hard at work getting everything ready.

When the restaurant first opens, much will be the same as at "Little Dimes," says DeSousa, but once things settle down, the duo and chef Gerri Noack hope to use their first full kitchen to offer daily specials and to change up the menu regularly. There are plans for handmade pastas and house cured meats, as well as a small plates menu offered between 4 and 6 p.m. To get things started, there will be a couple of gluten free nori rolls for lunch, and for dinner five-ounce flap steak, served with a kale and white sweet potato gratin. At breakfast, there will be pitaya bowls (like an acai bowl) made with pureed dragon fruit.

Liquor license in hand, bartender Arley Marks plans drinks like a wheat grass margarita and a bloody Mary made with pickled celery. He's also working on some aperitifs made with herb juices, and rounding out the options will be a tap dedicated to gypsy brewers Grimm Ales, and another pouring an ancestral-style cider custom made for the restaurant.

Across the street, the team plans to transform the original Dimes into Dimes Superette by mid-June. The tiny space will be used as a commissary when the restaurant is one of the food vendors at the Frieze Art Fair in May, but after that work will get underway. Most of the changes will be aesthetic say the pair. The shop, as promised, will carry grab and go fare, their excellent egg sandwiches, and apothecary products that the two are developing, like deodorant, scented candles, and more floral sprays. There will also be an organic produce section, set up outside like at many Chinatown markets. Once things settle down, Wagner and DeSousa hope to work on packaging some of their other products like hot sauces and granolas. Stay tuned for a full look around the space.

Some new menu items:

Small Plates (in between and dinner menu)

Duck Rillettes, plum mostarda, toast points
Grilled Treviso, anchovy vinaigrette, diced plum
Grilled Maitake Toast, piave, toasted hazelnuts, orange peel, parsley, chili oil
Maplebrook Buratta, nettle pesto, roasted asparagus

Large Plates (dinner menu)

Bar Steak, white sweet potato and lacinato kale gratin, roasted holland chili
Red Curry Mussels, house-made curry paste, ginger, shallots, lemongrass, coconut milk, sweet herbs