This Manhattan Bodega Is Selling Food Under 24 Different Names on Delivery Apps

Virtual restaurants — the online businesses that exist on delivery apps but don’t have a storefront of their own — might be getting out of hand. Four bodegas on the Upper East Side are operating under at least 76 different names on Seamless, local website Upper East Site reports. East Side Market, at 1463 York Avenue, near East 77th Street, is responsible for at least 18 of them, appearing on the app under Fatties Philly Cheesesteaks, Baker’s Boys Breakfast Sandwiches, Jay’s Breakfast Bar, Croissant Club, and other names. (All of the businesses list the same address online.) Operating on delivery apps under multiple different names is encouraged by companies like Grubhub and Seamless, who pitch it as a way for owners to maximize their revenues and appear in more places on their apps. The practice is widespread, and in 2022, even Williamsburg’s decades-old diner Kellogg’s was selling food under almost 20 different names.

The Laser Wolf team isn’t done yet

Michael Solomonov, the Philadelphia restaurateur behind Israeli restaurants Laser Wolf and K’Far, is opening his third spot at Williamsburg’s Hoxton hotel this spring. On May 10, the team will open the doors on Jaffa, a cocktail and raw bar with seating for 100 people between indoor and outdoor spaces, according to Greenpointers. Unlike Laser Wolf and K’Far, concepts already in Philadelphia that were brought here, Jaffa is new for the team: The menu lists oysters with zhug, octopus shakshuka, and orange juice-based cocktails.

A Las Vegas taco chain lands in Times Square

Pink Taco, a Las Vegas restaurant chain started by the son of Peter Morton, who co-founded the Hard Rock Cafe, is now open in Times Square. The 10,000-square-foot restaurant claims to be a nonstop party, with seating for 300 people across two floors and DJs providing ambiance for eating hard shell tacos and barbacoa burritos until 2 a.m. daily, per Time Out. The chain opened its first location in a Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas in 1999. It’s since spawned off-shoots in Miami, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

The mayor might have a new favorite restaurant

Zero Bond, the members-only club frequented by Mayor Eric Adams, put up a neon sign on its new restaurant, which is taking over the space that had been Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Mercer Kitchen for nearly 25 years. The Italian restaurant, called Sartiano’s, opens in June, with veteran New York City chef Alfred Portale as culinary director, who will keep his restaurant in Chelsea open, according to a spokesperson. Look for dishes like caviar cannoli, Arthur Avenue-baked paccheri for two, and Dover sole piccata.