Jennifer Gould

Jennifer Gould

Food & Drink

Taste of Southeast Asia set for Second Avenue rollout

Two talented chefs are opening Sachi Asian Bistro on Sept. 8, offering fun, inventive twists on the classics and Southeast Asian street food they grew up on.

Andy Yang, whose restaurant, Rhong-Tiam, was the first Thai eatery to receive a Michelin star in the US, and Pichet Ong, of dessert fame at Jean Georges and Spice Market, are opening their space at 713 Second Ave. at 38th Street.

The focus is “healthy,” with everything made from scratch and organic and gluten free when possible, using high heat and little oil.

The restaurant is 3,000 square feet, with 85 seats in the dining room, 15 at the bar and 5 at the sushi bar.

Menu items range from dim sum to noodles, sushi and sashimi to main courses and inspiration coming from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore. Traditional dishes are made with twists. For example, tomato egg drop soup has slow roasted tomatoes and a broth base made from organic chicken bones, and lemongrass chicken is brined.


Project Sara, a new pop-up restaurant, is slated to launch Sept. 7 at Studio Kitchen Cafe on the Lower East Side.

Founded by Viraj Borkar — who has worked in the kitchen at Jean Georges and at Eleven Madison Park — and Mangesh Elag, the pop-up, at 115 Eldridge St., will showcase a series of up and coming chefs, offering them the restaurant space, servers and support they need. Sara means essence in Sanskrit, and the idea is for each chef to create dishes that “expose the core flavor of each locally grown ingredient,” a spokesperson said.

The five-course meal from Borkar, Elag and guest chef Samuel Diaz will cost $80. It will be offered at three seatings for 36 diners for its debut.

The goal is to have bimonthly Project Sara dinners at different pop-up locations each time.

Seen . . . Scarlett Johansson and fiancé Romain Dauriac graciously moving tables after they accidentally sat at a table that had previously been requested, and reserved, for an elderly gentleman, and regular customer, at Acqua Restaurant and Wine Bar at 21 Peck Slip in the Financial District.