Monday, August 29th, 2011

Mentioned back in May that Vai Restaurant/Wine Bar was moving back to the neighborhood after being forced out of their 77th Street location by condo construction.

They’ve been having some sort of unofficial soft-opening over the past few days and MUW reader Jay was able to sample some of their goods. Per Jay:

“A nice space inside and a good wine list. They let us try a fantastic salad of arugula, prosciutto, and aged manchego. They said the rest of the menu would be ‘contemporary Mediterranean.’ The staff seems friendly and enthusiastic.”

Compared to the previous location on 77th, employees told Jay that the new location “felt a lot more open and had a couple exposed brick walls,” which they are apparently quite excited about.

The new Vai is located at 429 Amsterdam (between 80th & 81st). This spot used to house the short-lived tapas place Taberna.

Vai’s website says their official opening is Thursday (9/1), but the hostess I spoke with on the phone said they’d be open on Wednesday. Either way, they’re now accepting reservations: 212-362-4500. Give them a call about stopping by tonight — I think they’re doing another soft-opening event with some free samples, but call ahead to confirm.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, MUW reader Kevin snapped this spy shot of the coming Momofuku Milk Bar at 561 Columbus (corner of 87th). Apparently Irene blew off a tarp that had been covering the construction.

Admittedly, there’s not much to look at. Still, I’m a sucker for photos of things I’m “not supposed” to see, even if it’s just a couple of 2×4′s at this point. Milk Bar is supposed to open sometime in September.

Looks like they’ve got some built-out windows (I know there’s a better term for that, but I’m blanking) which should give a nice airy feel. While the previousl tenant had the same thing, it appears as though they were somewhat covered up. Also, no one cares about airiness in an insurance office. Thankfully the arrival of Milk Bar means we’ll never have to see that horrid blue awning again (photo from Google Maps Street View):

Filed under: Food & Drink, Going Out, Manhattan, New York City, NYC, Openings/Closings, Restaurants, Things to do, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, Upper West Side Date Stuff, UWS 4 Comments »
Tags: 429 Amsterdam, 561 Columbus, Momofuku Milk Bar, New York City, NYC, Openings, Upper West Side, UWS, Vai, Vai Restaurant Wine Bar, Wine Bar