A Bar Backed by Nightlife Veterans and Celebrity Investors to Open at Rockefeller Center

A bar backed by a team of nightlife hitmakers, and a few celebrity investors, is the latest food business to open at Rockefeller Center amid the development’s ongoing revamp.

The bar and lounge, called Pebble Bar, spans three stories of a townhouse at 67 West 49th Street, on the corner of Sixth Avenue, the previous home of Hurley’s, a century-old Irish bar that remained open through Prohibition and the development of Rockefeller Center. The space, slated to open on February 28, has been redone with intimate, swanky interiors and is backed by restaurateurs Noah Bernamoff, Carlos Quirarte, Matt Kliegman, Julian Brizzi, and Matthew Charles. Nicholas Braun, of Succession fame, and SNL’s Pete Davidson are also investors in the project.

Opening a bar in Midtown wasn’t really on the group’s radar, but the historic four-story space was apparently “too good to pass up,” says Kliegman, who’s also behind the Jane in the West Village. “It’s an iconic landmark on a corner of one of the busiest intersections in all of the city.”

Pebble Bar is the first in a series of high-profile restaurants slated to open at Rockefeller Center this year. In 2022, businesses from the owners of Olmsted in Prospect Heights, Michelin-starred Korean restaurant Atomix, and Soho favorite King will open at the development. They join fast-casual restaurants (Fieldtrip, Samesa) and upscale dining options like Lodi, the latest from chef and owner Ignacio Mattos.

A veteran pasta maker steps out on her own

Less than a month after upscale Italian restaurant I Trulli called it quits, its longtime pasta maker is stepping out on her own with a new restaurant in Murray Hill at 606 Second Avenue, between East 33rd and 34th streets. Nonna Dora’s comes from Addolorata Marzovilla, who previously made pastas for I Trulli and Tempo, run by her son Nicola Marzovilla. At her own restaurant, pastas can be eaten from a 12-seat bar, purchased for takeout from a retail area up front, and ordered for nationwide shipping on Goldbelly.

Fancy drinks for fancy folks at Barclays Center

Acclaimed Greenwich Village cocktail bar Dante is now serving up drinks for fans at Barclays Center — with a catch. The cocktails, which include versions of the bar’s rum old fashioned, Negroni, and other drinks, are only available on the arena’s suite level and in its Qatar Airways Club, exclusive to courtside ticket holders. The bar will be set up with bottled and tap drinks during Nets home games for the rest of the current NBA season.

Omsom teams up with fast-casual chain Chopt

Omsom, an Asian meal prep company that partners with local and celebrity chefs, is working with fast-casual restaurant chain Chopt on a line of salads and wraps. The lemongrass barbecue and Thai larb sauce packets that have anchored the company’s business for the last two years will now be used to prepare several Chopt menu items from now until May 3. It’s the latest in the series of high-profile partnerships from Omsom (see also: Instant Pot, Disney), which launched in 2020.