Few things make New Yorkers gawk, and lengthy restaurant lines are one of them, snaking down the block or pooling in front of entryways. Over the past year, Catch Hospitality Group has almost perfected the art of the wait list with two consecutive hyped-up restaurant openings: Wine Spectator Award of Excellence winner the Corner Store in Soho and the Eighty Six in the West Village. Last month, CHG looked to expand upon that success with the opening of Or’esh, a Middle Eastern restaurant from chef Nadav Greenberg that’s also in SoHo, a popular shopping district. Previously, Greenberg was the executive chef at the lauded Israeli restaurant Shmoné in the West Village.
A Best of Award of Excellence winner, Corner Store’s success was fueled by celebrity sightings—including multiple visits from Taylor Swift—and nostalgia-tinged dishes like pizza rolls doused with Calabrian chile honey or their signature sour cream and onion martini. The Eighty Six, in turn, doubled down on exclusivity, hiding the low-lit dining room behind a thick wood door that once guarded the speakeasy Chumleys. CHG, which boasts dozens of Restaurant Award winners across the country, is owned by restaurateur Eugene Remm, as well as by Tilman Fertitta of Landry’s Inc., one of the most prominent hospitality groups in the United States. (Fertitta is also the United States Ambassador to Italy.)
Or’esh is bringing even more heat—figuratively and literally—to the downtown dining scene with chef Greenberg’s menu, focused on wood-fired Levantine cooking, including dishes such as double lamb chops with fava beans and sheep’s yogurt, charred farmers market greens slicked with a lemon-garlic vinaigrette, or red snapper with a tomato-harissa emulsion. (All fish available can be prepared “simply grilled” with just olive oil and lemon, or a lemon-sage butter.)
From the success of the Corner Store and the Eighty Six, CHG wine director Emily Buse “had a strong sense of who our customer would be;” those who lean toward allocated Burgundies and other prestige bottlings. With Or’esh, there was a pull to create a program drastically different from its counterparts, with a focus on natural wines “to reflect our clean ingredients,” or for the bulk of the list to be Mediterranean wines. With an opening list of 250 bottles, Buse tapped into those categories but didn’t let them rule the cellar. Burgundy, Bordeaux and California Cabernets are prominent, including highly sought-after producers such as Domaine Leflaive, Château Cheval Blanc and Hundred Acre.
“I didn’t want to alienate our core clientele who, like me, have a deep appreciation for the classics,” explains Buse. “Compared to our other concepts, the menu here features more fish, vegetables and spices. As a result, the wine list offers a broad selection of whites, since full-bodied reds tend to exacerbate both the perception of spice and oiliness in fish. While I didn’t ‘go to town,’ there are definitely more wines from Turkey, Greece, Israel and Lebanon than I’ve carried previously. Based on the response in our first two weeks of being open, I definitely plan to continue expanding that selection.”
The interior of Or’esh, designed by leading firm Rockwell Group, is washed in an amber light, with plush red banquettes and gold accents. Despite being open for only a month, Or’esh has already seen high demand. “I think New Yorkers have always been excited to try places that are brand new and hard to get into—destinations that help them to transcend the grind of the day,” says Buse. I think our group is unique in how we utilize every tool available to create a sense of magic that goes beyond service, food and beverage. The attention to detail—from the sound quality of the music to the uniforms to the martini picks—are all small ‘tangible intangibles’ which set us apart from many other venues.”
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