James Beard-nominated chef Robbie Felice has opened his latest “secret” Manhattan restaurant — this time a Japanese-Italian eatery that’s positioned inside a Soho hair salon, Side Dish has learned.
Diners trying to rating one in all just 12 seats for the $295-a-person, 10-course omakase menu — with dishes like cacio e pepe fritti, truffle porcini ramen and dry-aged Japanese A5 Wagyu — can only book a slot via a “secret” link on Resy found on the restaurant’s website and social media.
They’re then texted the key location of the still-unidentified beauty shop — which the proprietor also declined to speak in confidence to Side Dish — the day before their reservation.
The pop-up, called pastaRamen, offers two separate seatings only on Sundays and Mondays – when the salon is closed.
It launched April 2 and can run through Memorial Day.
The concept of the furtive feasts is the brainchild of Felice and grew out of necessity after the COVID pandemic forced him to temporarily shut his two Latest Jersey restaurants, he told Side Dish.
“I still desired to keep my foot on the gas and keep cooking, so I secretly snuck people into my restaurants for personal dinners,” said Felice, 32, who runs Viaggio Ristorante in Wayne, NJ, and Osteria Crescendo, in Westwood, NJ, together with his father, Joe Felice.
“I’d call them Tuesday tastings, and I’d cook for just two, 4 or six people at a time. That’s where I tested my concept,” he added.
It also helped him bring his staff of fifty staff back after the pandemic, said Felice, who lives in West Latest York, NJ, together with his two cats, Truffle and Mochi.
His pandemic gambit quickly drew a cult following, leading Felice to branch out with pop-ups at more lavish locations across the country.
He arrange shop at a 68th-floor luxury penthouse in Jersey City overlooking the Manhattan skyline, on the roof of the trendy Faena Hotel in Miami, in a glass studio with a show kitchen in Seattle, a food studio in Los Angeles, after which back to Miami for Art Basel in a luxury waterfront residence.
“Everyone loves pasta and ramen. They’re two names that everybody can say. It’s basic, and screams what we do, so we ran with it,” Felice said.
The fusion of the 2 noodle-centric cuisines blends ingredients and techniques from each cultures.
The Japanese style – called wafu — combines the coastal flare of the island nation with the country type of Italian cooking.
Felice said the cuisines have similar flavor bases — like a shiso leaf, which mixes the Italian-favored flavors of basil and mint.
The recognition of the pop-ups encouraged Felice to open his first brick-and-mortar pastaRAMEN in Montclair, NJ, a number of months ago.
He teamed with Montclair Hospitality Group and his friend and fellow restaurateur Luck Sarabhayavanija, of MHG’s Ani Ramen, on the BYOB, 65-seat eatery in an 1,800 square-foot space.
Iron Chef Morimoto with Felice.Jeffrey Elkashab
Fans include Iron Chef Morimoto, who stopped by the Soho pop-up with MHG’s CEO Joey Simons just before its opening.
The space is transformed within the evenings right into a culinary oasis by street artist Victoria Poplaski.
Now MHG is planning to launch one other pastaRAMEN and a latest Morimoto concept in Washington state this fall.
A more everlasting Manhattan outpost may additionally be within the works, sources told Side Dish.
