First Look: The Plaza Food Hall

The concept, which opens today, is a condensed version of Harrod’s famous food hall, with a slew of bar areas featuring different cuisines interspersed with sales displays of artisanal food products and fancy kitchen tools. Among the offerings are The Ocean Grill and Oyster Bar, featuring a full raw bar, grilled fish and a lobster roll; a brick oven pizza and salad station (where I sampled a heavenly arugula-mozzarella-fontina pie at last night’s sneak peek of the place); a sushi bar; a noodle and dumpling area; a tapas and wine station; a grill featuring burgers, lamb gyros, steaks, and a carving station; a cheese and charcuterie bar; and a delightful bakery offering homemade candies, maccarons, tarts and cupcakes by CurlyCakes, a company that the one-time runaway groom launched with his teenaged daughter.

English says that the challenge was paring down his ideas. “I wanted to do a tandoori oven, for instance,” he said, “but there just wasn’t enough room for everything.”

Photos: Evan Sung