Estela Reopens With Weekend Skewer Pop-Ups, & More NYC Restaurant News

After indoor dining service closed down in December, Estela on Houston Street did too. But now they’re offering a new outdoor skewer extravaganza called Up In Smoke, which involves selling barbecued dishes like chicken wing yakitori, head-on shrimp, and steak with potato chips and taleggio. Estela will have outdoor dining on a first-come, first-served basis, as well as takeout and delivery service available. Up In Smoke runs on weekends from 1-4pm, starting Saturday, January, 30th to the end of February.

photo credit: Up In Smoke

Sugar Hill Cafe on 145th Street in Harlem announced that they’re reopening for takeout and outdoor service. They serve things like brunch, coffee, sandwiches.

Another new pop-up we’re excited about is the Asian Street Food Chef’s Collab Series, a project featuring the chefs at Golden Diner, Saigon Social, Fat Choy, and Hirohisa. Each week, Golden Diner will collaborate with a different chef on a $60 menu available for outdoor dining or takeout. You can buy tickets for the three pop-up weekends (happening January 29th and 30th, February 12th and 13th, and February 26th and 27th) here.

Something to look forward to: Lolo’s Seafood Shack is expanding to the Upper West Side this spring with a new taco spot. Eater reports that it’s set to open in April.

It’s NYC Restaurant Week and more restaurants are participating than ever before (over 500). Partly because it’s free to participate this year and partly because all of the specials are only available for takeout and delivery. In either case, there’s a lot of options to choose from. That’s why we wrote about our 20 favorite spots with Restaurant Week specials this year.

This Thursday, January 28th, Elsewhere in Bushwick is hosting a livestream concert with Princess Nokia on Twitch. It starts at 7pm, and you can find more details here.

It’s freezing outside, and restaurants continue to adapt by setting up heat lamps on their outdoor patios. Whether you’re looking for a date spot, a coffee shop, or a rooftop bar, we’re keeping track of the city’s restaurants and bars with heat lamps here.

Court Street Grocers is selling hoodies and we want one. You can find out more information and preorder here.

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Our Favorite Noodle Soup In NYC

Ho Foods, a Taiwanese restaurant in the East Village that makes obsession-worthy beef noodle soup, will take reservations for the first time ever starting Thursday, January 28th. They just opened a new outdoor dining set-up with heat lamps.

For all those wishing they could temporarily move somewhere like Miami (without actually doing so, because it’s a pandemic and Florida is...Florida), check out the Garret Nolita’s new tropical pop-up. Until March 31st, they’ll be serving a bunch of rum and tequila cocktails, mezcal flights, and snacks like nachos and tacos. Make a reservation and find out more information about their heated outdoor set-up here.

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