A giant chocolate waterfall will soon flow into Union Square
First, it was the Nutella Cafe. Now, it’s an Italian sweets shop that claims to have the “largest chocolate waterfall in North America.” Union Square will soon be home to two of the more exaggerated new venues in town: The latest, called Venchi, is an Italian chocolate store that will apparently have a 45-foot-long, 10-foot-high chocolate waterfall within the store. Other than gourmet chocolates, the Turin-based chocolate manufacturer will also sell gelato, crepes, and coffee. Venchi opens Thursday, November 15, at 861 Broadway. (Four blocks south, the Nutella Cafe also opens this week with a menu dedicated to the gooey hazelnut spread.)
New chef and menu slide into West Village Italian spot Morandi
Keith McNally’s West Village Italian trattoria Morandi has tapped a new executive chef: Gabriele Carpentieri, who comes from Aureole by Charlie Palmer, an American restaurant that earned a Michelin star during his tenure. The Milanese chef turns his focus to Italian dishes with a new menu at Morandi — see it in full below — including pastas like a whole wheat beet fusilli with Italian sausage, broccoli rabe, pecorino cheese, and chile flakes; and scallop ravioli topped with prosciutto bits, snap peas, and an herb cream sauce.
Harlem restaurant will highlight female chefs and sommeliers
Vinateria, an Italian restaurant in Harlem, is hosting a series of collaboration dinners centered on women in the food industry — ranging from female chefs to winemakers to sommeliers. Chef Adrienne Cheatham (Le Bernardin, Streetbird, Red Rooster) is first up, and the dinner happening this Sunday, November 18. Tickets are available here. Next will be sommelier Cha McCoy, who founded a local wine-tasting program called the Communion, on December 9. And celebrity chef Elizabeth Falkner will helm the kitchen some time in January.
Smoothies, breakfast bowls and more at Soho pop-up
Daily Harvest, a health-focused subscription box service, will be giving out smoothie samples and serving vegetable bowls, cookies, and drinks like a ginger and turmeric latte at a new Soho pop-up that’s meant to mirror a retro gas station. Dubbed the “Refueling Station,” the event will also have strange “interactive photo moments” like a walk-in freezer that shows the different farms the company gets its produce. The pop-up runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. starting Wednesday, November 14, at 446 Broadway. It ends November 18.