Marks Chef Carmellini's Return to Fine Dining with Highly Personal Cooking and Its Name Honors His Family's 120-Year Coffee Business in Italy

NEW YORK, November 1, 2023—Chef Andrew Carmellini, a 30-year culinary veteran, today announces the opening of Café Carmellini in Manhattan's NoMad area in Fall 2023. Located at 250 Fifth Avenue, Chef Carmellini's signature restaurant marks his return to fine dining and will serve his personal, modern interpretations of classic Italian and French dishes. 

“Café Carmellini is New York at heart and Italian and French in spirit. My career began in fine dining at era-defining restaurants in New York City. After focusing successfully on more casual dining for 15 years, I felt a calling to return to fine dining. Café Carmellini is the most personal restaurant of my career and the sum total of everything I am passionate about. Nestled in a magnificent and historic New York landmark, Café Carmellini is my love letter to New York City. I want it to become a destination for New Yorkers and visitors to the city to feel transported, celebrated and warmly welcomed.”

Honoring His Family's Name and NYC Roots with a Personal Take on Italian and French Dishes

Café Carmellini is a nod to the Carmellini family's coffee importing business in Tuscany that thrived for 120 years. It is Chef Carmellini's first restaurant where Carmellini is incorporated into its name and telegraphs this very personal undertaking that salutes his family's Italian and French roots. Chef Carmellini's ties to the Big Apple go back to his Italian grandfather who jumped ship in New York Harbor. The family patriarch went on to work at the Claremont Inn in Riverside Park, yet never forgot his roots and instilled in his family a deep respect for Old World traditions. Chef Carmellini's cooking at Café Carmellini also salutes his mentorships with some of America's greatest chefs and his three decades of culinary experience honed in New York City.

Chef Carmellini's cooking at Café Carmellini draws on various sources of inspiration. Some of his dishes are an ode to a place, like the Oysters à la Pomme'sreference to Normandy and Shrimp Colonnata, a nod to a village near his family's hometown in Tuscany where they source marble for their stonework business. The Chicken 'Gran Sasso' is Chef Carmellini's platonic ideal that has been perfected over the years. 

A Wine-Centric Restaurant in a Magnificent Gilded Age Space

Café Carmellini offers a comprehensive 1,800-bottle wine list featuring acclaimed Italian, French, American and other worldly producers. It is located in a Manhattan landmark at 250 Fifth Avenue, the luxurious new Fifth Avenue Hotel, and has its own entrance on the historic boulevard. Café Carmellini'smagnificent dining room, which channels stately Old New York elegance, boasts double-height ceilings, two grand sculptural trees and balcony seating. It harkens back to the grand spaces in New York that Chef Carmellini's grandfather might have encountered when restarting his life in the city.

The location was previously the site of the mansion and carriage house of Ms. Charlotte Goodridge, a leading society figure during the city's Gilded Age. It was succeeded by a five-story Renaissance palazzo designed by McKim, Mead & White, the architects who put their stamp on quintessential New York buildings like the Brooklyn Museum, Columbia University and the original Pennsylvania Station. 

A Menu of Surprising New Creations, Favorite Classics and Homages to Mentors

The opening menu at Café Carmellini has many brand new and surprising offerings, like Lobster Cannelloni & Osetra and Red Snapper 'Meunière,' which is actually a carpaccio with meunière flavors. Rabbit Cacciatore and the Duck Tortellini reprise some of Chef Carmellini's revised creations. Scallops Cardoz is an homage to Chef Floyd Cardoz who Chef Carmellini worked with in the 1990s, and Chef Carmellini is planning to add in other dishes in the future that are homages to other great cooks. Some dishes, like the Risotto del Giorno or the Coffee 'Livornese' Granita, are simply the storytelling of 30 years of cooking and serving guests. 

Chef Carmellini is assisted in the kitchen by Chef de Cuisine Kyle Goldstein, formerly of Gramercy Tavern and Eleven Madison Park, with desserts by Pastry Chef Jeffrey Wurtz, who previously collaborated with Chef Alain Ducasse. 

Café Carmellini's opening menu, subject to change, includes:

Raw & Cured

• Oysters à la Pomme
• Japanese Sardine Toast
• Kanpachi Aqua Pazza 
• Red Snapper 'Meunière'
• Wagyu Carpaccio della Casa

First

• Fall Squash Involtini
• Crab & Meyer Lemon Salad
• Shrimp Colonnata
• Artichoke Florentine
• Veal Tongue Castelluccio

Second

• Risotto del Giorno
• Lobster Cannelloni & Osetra
• Duck Tortellini

Entrées

• Sole Normande
• Black Bass in Truffle Zabaglione
• Scallops Cardoz
• Rabbit Cacciatore
• Squab en Croute
• Beef Tenderloin 'Classico'
• Chicken 'Gran Sasso' for Two

Dessert

• Passion Fruit Chiboust, Coconut Sorbet
• Sticky Toffee Pudding, Aged Rum
• Chocolate-Pear Delice, Ginger
• Olive Oil Cake, Sorrento Lemon
• Coffee 'Livornese' Granita, Crema
• Pistachio Gelato, Cherry
• Grapefruit Sorbetto A.B.C.
• Fine European Cheeses

A Beloved Chef Returns to His Rarefied Culinary Roots

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Chef Carmellini began his cooking career in top fine-dining kitchens. They included L'Arpège in Paris and San Domenico in Emilia-Romagna and legendary New York City fine dining restaurants, including Lespinasse, Le Cirque and Café Boulud. Along the way, Chef Carmellini earned two James Beard Awards and other top accolades. Chef Carmellini then shifted his attention to more casual cooking at his wildly successful Locanda Verde, The Dutch, Lafayette, Carne Mare, Bar Primi and others. He notably cracked the code between fine cooking and fun dining, with offerings that are soulful and flavorful, rustic and refined. Café Carmellini represents Chef Carmellini's return to fine dining that now incorporates the theatricality and high-energy that his guests have come to expect.

A 1,800-Bottle Wine List, a Master Sommelier and a Team of Six Sommeliers

The wines served at Café Carmellini are those that Chef Carmellini personally loves to drink, both on their own and with food. The restaurant's comprehensive 1,800 bottle wine list celebrates best in class French, Italian and U.S. producers, complemented by a broad representation of progressive and illustrative producers from those countries, as well as Spain, Greece, Austria and Germany. The list, with bottles from $70 to $10,000, offers hundreds of older vintages, with many opportunities for deep vertical exploration. Wines by the glass range from $18 to $40 and extend beyond still and sparkling to Sherry, Madeira, sweet, fortified and aromatized. More than 9,000 bottles, which were acquired at auction over the course of three years, are carefully stored on site in a state of the art wine cellar. 

The wine list was curated by Master Sommelier Josh Nadel, who has worked with Chef Carmellini since the 2009 opening of Locanda Verde. Nadel earned eight consecutive Wine Spectator Grand Awards and a James Beard Award for “Outstanding Wine Service.” Nadel is joined by Robin Wright, recently of Ci Siamo, who collaborated on the list, and a team of six sommeliers. 

Provenance is paramount, and meticulous on-site storage/temperature control enables wines of all types to be served at their respective, optimal temperatures. The collection is expansive, and the team will make certain that a guest interested in discovering an $80 bottle of Greek white wine feels as cared for, spoiled for choice, and catered to as someone ordering a wine for $800 or $3,000. 

Elemental, “Platonic Ideal” Cocktails

Café Carmellini includes an intimate bar serving eight perfected classic cocktails ($15 to $20), as well as three non-alcoholic tipples. Their creation was a collaboration between Chef Carmellini, Head Bartender Darryl Chan, formerly of Bar Pleiades, and Master Sommelier Nadel. They were specifically designed to complement the culinary offerings.

Ensconced in a Magnificent New York City Landmark

Café Carmellini is located on the ground level of the luxurious, new Fifth Avenue Hotel at 250 Fifth Avenue, and Chef Carmellini's NoHo Hospitality Group is in charge of all food and beverage at the hotel. The landmarked building underwent a meticulous, seven-year, full-scale renovation by its owner, AlexOhebshalom. The brick and limestone palazzo has been restored to its former grandeur as a magnificent hotel to enchant a new generation.

Grand Design Befits a Grand New York Space

The restaurant's design is centered on two grand sculptural trees that animate the dining room's double-height ceilings and high gloss wood and beveled mirror panels. They are surrounded by banquettes in a vibrant blue jewel tone. Juliet balcony seating offers guests a full view of the high-energy dining room and adds to the light, bright and airy ambience. A sense of theater is created by the open kitchen with marble counters and blue ceramic tiled walls. The intimate, high gloss timber bar sports a bronze railing. Contemporary artwork contrasts with the neoclassical internal architecture, while the room is illuminated by oversized chandeliers of bronze and seeded glass.

About Café Carmellini

Located at 250 Fifth Avenue, Café Carmellini marks the return of Chef Andrew Carmellini, a three-decade culinary veteran, to fine dining. It offers ChefCarmellini's personal, modern takes on Italian and French dishes in a grand landmarked space in Manhattan's NoMad area. The wine-centric restaurant's 1,800-bottle wine list salutes Italy, France, the U.S., as well as Spain, Greece, Austria and Germany. Ensconced in the luxurious new Fifth Avenue Hotel, CaféCarmellini's hours of operation are Tuesday to Saturday, 5pm-10pm. For more information and reservations, visit www.cafecarmellini.com and follow us on Instagram at ​​@cafecarmellini.

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