Tatiana

Tatiana is Kwame Onwuachi's first New York restaurant, and his homecoming. He grew up on Burnside Avenue in the Bronx, cooked at Per Se and Eleven Madison Park, became famous on Top Chef at twenty-five, and won a James Beard award at Kith and Kin in Washington before returning home. Tatiana opened on November 1, 2022 at David Geffen Hall, during the hall's half-billion-dollar overhaul. It is named for his sister, who helped raise him.

The menu is Afro-Caribbean with the Bronx running through it, drawn from his roots in Nigeria, Jamaica, Trinidad and New Orleans. Escovitch fish becomes a kampachi crudo with Scotch bonnet. Curry goat goes into a patty. The chopped cheese turns into a steamed bun stuffed with ribeye, Taleggio and mozzarella under a mountain of truffle. Dessert is a warm honey bun with powdered doughnut ice cream, which he describes as a trip to the bodega. The dish people come back for is the short rib pastrami suya. Pete Wells gave it three stars.

Dessert is a warm honey bun with powdered doughnut ice cream, which he describes as a trip to the bodega.

The room is its own argument: green booths, gold chain, iridescent tile like an oil slick on asphalt, and cloud lights that change colour, which Onwuachi can set from his phone. Amy Racine consulted on the wine. The playlist is his, and it is mostly the nineties and two-thousands.

Go before a performance, early, or instead of one. It is the best seat at Lincoln Center that does not face a stage.

Text to ask.