NYC Wegmans Restaurant Set to Open
Close to two years after Wegmans Food Markets opened its Astor Place store in Manhattan – the grocer’s first store in the New York City borough – the location’s promised Next Door restaurant is slated to open on Wednesday, April 30, according to published reports.
The Art Deco-inspired restaurant will feature “contemporary Japanese cuisine,” Grub Street reported, including a sushi bar and a robata grill, as well as cocktails and a global wine list. This will be the second Next Door restaurant to open, following the one that opened in Wegmans’ hometown of Rochester, N.Y., back in 2002.
Overseeing the opening are Corporate Executive Chefs Oliver Lange and Kazuya Matsuoka, along with Wegmans SVP of Restaurant Foods John Emerson.
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“Because of the infrastructure that [Wegmans has] built, we have access to all of the seasonal ingredients,” said Lange, who forged a relationship with vendors at Tokyo’s Toyosu market through the grocer. “We basically have access to firsthand information when something new comes out.”
Grub Street noted of the new restaurant’s decor: “In contrast with the fluorescence of the grocery store, the restaurant is illuminated by tall windows, huge mirrored panels depicting oceanic scenes, and brushed-brass lighting fixtures. White tablecloths, velvet banquettes and artificial live oaks give the space some hotel-lobby grandeur.”
Family-owned Wegmans operates 112 stores along the East Coast. The company is No. 39 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named the company among its Most Sustainable Grocers.
