Tiny Japanese Hot Pot Omakase Joins Lower East Side

A new kind of Japanese omakase joins the Lower East Side

The team behind popular Japanese soba restaurant Cocoron has opened a tiny new omakase restaurant called Shabushabu Macoron. The eight-seat counter at 61 Delancey Street, near Allen Street, serves a tasting menu of shabu-shabu — a Japanese hotpot. Thinly cut meat and raw vegetables get cooked in a broth; then the meat can be dipped in a sauce. A chef named Mako runs the show by herself. For November, the cost for the menu is $88. Make a reservation here.

Upper West Side restaurant openings include new Serafina

A slew of restaurants are making their way to the neighborhood. On Thursday, Italian chain Serafina debuted at 2737 Broadway, at 105th Street. Chinese fast food chain Panda Express is also close to opening on Broadway between 110th and 111th Streets, part of the company’s ongoing expansion plan in the city. And Asian-Latin fusion restaurant called Zen Taco will soon join Columbus Avenue, at 85th street; the restaurant is now hiring.

Two restaurant closings

After nearly a decade on Houston, tapas bar Macondo suddenly closed the doors of its Lower East Side location. The restaurant from Hector Sanz first opened there in 2008. Staffers at the still-open West Village location tell Bowery Boogie that it’s only a temporary shutter. Further north on the Upper West Side, Indian restaurant Saffron has closed as well. The neighborhood restaurant near Lincoln Center served dishes like fish tikka and lobster masala.

A free Thanksgiving meal with an Indian spin

East Village Indian restaurant Old Monk — which recently, finally scored a liquor license — is offering a free Indian buffet this Thanksgiving. The restaurant from chef Navjot Arora, which opened this past summer, will be serving dishes like turkey meatballs in curry sauce, cumin potatoes, tandoori chicken wings, and naan on Thanksgiving Day. Enough food will be available for as many as 300 people.

A weekend pop-up from a Wildair alum

Chef Giuseppe Lacorazza — a former sous chef at LES small plates restaurant Wildair — is cooking at the Brazilian O Cafe in Greenwich Village over a series of weekend pop-ups. The menu changes every weekend but highlights seafood. For the first series of dinners starting this weekend, dishes include poached white shrimp with turnips, razor clams, and dry-aged beef tartare lettuce cups. Tickets cost $50 and can be purchased here.

Maybe eat a Japanese brunch at Okonomi this weekend