'Best New Chefs' Nod for Contra Duo, Momofuku's Fried Chicken & Caviar, and More Intel

— Jeremiah Stone & Fabián von Hauske — the chefs/restaurateurs behind Contra and Wildair — are part of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs class of 2016. Stone and von Hauske will be featured in the July issue of Food & Wine, and they will be showcased at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen this June.

— Momofuku Noodle Bar has a new large-format feast: fried chicken and caviar. That's two fried chickens, two varieties of caviar, biscuits, potato chips, truffle cream, sauces, and garnishes for $500. It feeds four to eight people. Reservations can be made online.

— And speaking of Momofuku, Silvia Killingsworth files a Tables for Two review of Nishi this week: "The earthy walnut bagna cauda arrives already smothering crisp stalks of Romaine lettuce, to create a nutty Caesar salad sprinkled with more walnuts, shaved. The coup de grâce is ceci e pepe, a twist on the simple classic, in which aged cheeses have been replaced with chickpea Hozon—a miso-style paste made from fermented legumes."  Killingsworth also writes: "This is mature Chang, but also classic Chang: he doesn't much care what we think as long as the food is tasty."

— Peter Brandt Jr., the son of billionaire Peter Brandt and model Stephanie Seymour, skipped out on a $2,000 tab at Nobu last week.

— A sign outside of new East Village sushi restaurant Shin Bashi advertises different lunch specials for men and women. EV Grieve notes that the men's meal costs $4 more but it includes an extra roll.

— Wolfgang Ban, of Edi & the Wolf and the dearly departed Seasonal, wants to open a "fine dining Austro-Hungarian restaurant" in the former Cafe Asean space at 117 W. 10th St. Ban went before the CB2 last week to present his plan. The members of the board were not pleased with his desire to close at 10:30 p.m. instead of 10 p.m.

— The 'Wichcraft team has applied for a beer and wine license at 325 Broadway in Tribeca, near Worth Street.

— The owner of Nana in Park Slope and Hachi in Williamsburg is planning a new restaurant at 330 Malcolm X Blvd. in Bed-Stuy called Nana Ramen. It's slated to open this summer.

— A "for rent" sign is now up in the window of the old Nino's Pizza space on the corner of St. Mark's and Avenue A. Previously, East Village restaurateurs James Morrissey and Gerard McNamee had planned to open a new bar/restaurant in this space called The Honey Fitz.

— Jeremiah Moss is not a fan of the fact that at the new iteration of Kossar's Bialys, customers can get their bagels toasted and scooped: "This is a message to tourists and to the extended-stay tourists known as recent transplants who don't ever intend to become New Yorkers. Because while some New Yorkers might toast their fresh bagels when putting butter on them, scooping is a definite no-no. A shonda, you might say."

— And finally, here's a look at how the chefs at Okiway make the restaurant's okonomiyaki: