Trader Joe’s New Soho Location Opens Today

Soho gets a Trader’s Joe’s today

Soho is now home to its very own location of grocery store Trader Joe’s. The new outpost at 233 Spring St., between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue, opened this morning. The 19,000-square-foot space has a mural of a rooftop bar in Soho, 30 checkout lanes, and sells beer, though not wine. It’s open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Di An Di opens to public tonight

Stylish new Greenpoint pho restaurant Di An Di starts serving pho to the masses for dinner Friday night. The neutral, plant-packed restaurant is supposed to feel like a tropical Vietnamese countryside, and the menu’s signature is the Vietnamese noodle soup. Owners Kim Hoang, Tuan Bui, and chef-owner Dennis Ngo — all of An Choi on the LES — offer five kinds of pho, as well as three other types of noodle soup.

A look at Em, a Vietnamese restaurant in Besonhurst

In this week’s Hungry City column in the Times, Ligaya Mishan delights over the noodle soup at a Vietnamese cafe with a tight menu in Bensonhurst called Em, run by chef Ly Nguyen. The hu tieu Nam Vang is a highlight, a noodle soup with a pork base and dried squid and dried shrimp: “A slab of rib bobs on top, alongside quail eggs that house quaking yolks. Chewy rice noodles mass below, ensnaring fish balls and fat shrimp. It is hard to resist.” Several banh mi options, as well as a rich mango shake, are also worth ordering.

A little something in New York for royal wedding fanatics

More details are out on the Saturday’s royal wedding cake: Kensington Palace has listed out all the ingredients for the three-tier lemon-elderflower cake. Here in New York, restaurants, bakeries, and bars are all scrambling to get into the craze with their own versions of lemon-elderflower items. Ample Hills has an ice cream flavor with it, Black Tap has a royal milkshake, and the Kellogg’s NYC Cafe has a super early breakfast buffet with a version of the cake.

Finnish no-waste restaurant pops up in NYC this weekend

As part of NYCxDesign, a pop-up restaurant called Zero Waste Bistro will be at 269 11th Ave., between 27th and 28th streets, from May 19 to May 22. The chefs here come from Helsinki’s Restaurant Nolla, a full-time zero waste restaurant. They’re serving a tasting menu during brunch, lunch, and breakfast over the course of the pop-up, each with the theme of “circular economy, new material innovations and sustainable design.” Tickets start at $24.

Competitive eater chows down on Feltman’s

Famed Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi stopped by McSorley’s Ale House this week and ate 12 hot dogs. The sausages came from Feltman’s, and were topped with condiments like mustard. Fans also reportedly doused Kobayashi with drinks while he was there. Feltman’s owner Michael Quinn claims that Kobayashi declared that Feltman’s hot dogs are better than Nathan’s.