TWLSB edition
Mr. Tuna, 'insanely delicious' new Hamptons resto, weekend open houses, Palmetto, martinis, best Portland restaurants, Midnight Blue, Violent Femmes tix, MORE
GETAWAYS • Maine
(Mr.) Tuna season
In the restaurant firmament of Portland, ME, one finds fine dining spots — like first-ballot hall-of-famer Fore Street and relative newcomer Twelve, both of which FOUND covered last summer — but also, crucially, elevated casual joints. Of that second type, the best known is Eventide, now a dozen years into its run, which continues to dispense surprising, delicious takes on clam shack cuisine. The downside: lines down the block, with waits that can stretch over two hours for this no-reservations spot.
This summer, however, some relief. Directly across from Eventide on Middle Street, the restaurant Mr. Tuna opened in May. Long a key player in the city’s food truck culture, Mr. Tuna started slinging handrolls from a truck in 2017 then opened a counter in Portland’s Public Market the following year. Now, Mr. Tuna has expanded into its first full-blown restaurant, where the menu is larger, and what emerges from the kitchen is even more delightful.
A smattering of tables inside and out are good places for families to park themselves, but we pulled up two seats at the sushi bar on a lively Friday afternoon last week. Mr. Tuna himself — a very friendly fellow named Jordan Rubin, who can often be found behind the counter — popped by to greet us and let us in on a secret: an off-menu bluefin tuna tasting ($46 per), featuring one piece each of toro, otoro, chutoro, and aburi (seared) toro. It’s a spectacular way to celebrate bluefin season in the Gulf of Maine.
Of course, we had to have some Mr. Tuna signature handrolls as well. Barbecued eel, Maine crab, and spicy hamachi all hit the spot. We washed it all down with a Goodfire Prime IPA, thinking, yeah, this really is the way life should be. –Lockhart Steele
→ Mr. Tuna (Portland, ME) • 83 Middle St • Daily 1130a-930p • Walk-ins only.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Woodstock co-creator lists Catskills retreat for $2.4M • My accidental trip to Maine • TSA Precheck hits 20 million members • First look at new Lufthansa lounge at EWR Terminal B • Korean Air reveals new lounge plans for remade JFK Terminal 1 • Delta rolling out free wifi on international flights • Behold, Soho House São Paolo, the club’s first South American outpost.
REAL ESTATE • Open Houses
Stuck in the city this late summer weekend? We’re here to serve. Here, a downtown, new listing, open house crawl:
→ 81 White St #PHE (Tribeca) • 3BR/3BA, 3200 SF condo • Ask: $7.5M • Sun Aug 18 (1130a-1230p, by appt only) • Days on market: 15 • Monthly common charges: $2013, Monthly taxes: $7393 • Agent: Lance Gillette, SERHANT.
→ 286 Spring St #2A (Hudson Square, above) • 4BR/4BA, 3670 SF condo • Ask: $7.2M • Sun Aug 18 (11a-1p, by appt only) • Days on market: 17 • Monthly common charges: $2300, Monthly taxes: $5216 • Agent: Michele Denby, Elliman.
→ 109 Greene St #3C (Soho) • 3BR/3.1BA, 2550 SF condo • Ask: $5.595M • Sat Aug 17 (1-2p) • Days on market: 22 • Monthly common charges: $5103, Monthly taxes: $3629 • Agent: Keith Copley, Elliman.
→ 70 Charlton St #3C (Hudson Square) • 2BR/2.1BA, 1323 SF condop • Ask: $2.895M • Fri Aug 16 (5-6p, by appt only) • Days on market: 38 • Monthly maintenance: $3156 • Agent: Robert Rosa, Corcoran.
→ 22 Mercer St #4B (Soho) • 2BR/2.1BA, 2135 SF condo • Ask: $3.999M • Sun Aug 18 (1-230p) • Days on market: 8 • Monthly common charges: $2960, Monthly taxes: $2661 • Agent: Ryan Serhant, SERHANT.
REAL ESTATE LINKS: Claim: the worst times are behind us for NYC homebuyers • And how the new industry rules taking effect tomorrow will impact buyers and sellers • At One High Line, work wrapping up on public and commercial spaces • Another major office-to-residential conversion coming to Wall Street • Brooklyn Children’s Museum begins major garden makeover.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
Beige and cream era
MIKE FABBRI • real estate agent • The Agency
Neighborhood you live in: Gramercy
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
My Friday starts on Thursday — like a true New Yorker. I always have something planned to look forward to on Thursday nights, usually at a new restaurant I’ve been dying to try. This past week, it was Coqodaq, that new fancy fried chicken place from the people behind COTE. The vibe was a bit extra, but their chicken nuggets with caviar more than made up for it.
Where are you drinking or dining this weekend?
There's a new jazz club that opened nearby in Gramercy, called Midnight Blue. It’s a Japanese whiskey bar in the front and a Tokyo-style jazz club in the back. Fun vibe, creative cocktails and apps, and features some of the best jazz musicians in town.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I've lived in Gramercy my entire adult life, so my partner and I make it a point to venture out and explore other neighborhoods when we have slow work days. We have a ritual where we pick one neighborhood and spend a day living like locals. It’s great for real estate, allowing us to get to know an area more intimately, but it's also a fun way to be tourists in our own city. We start with breakfast and stay through dinner, filling the day with activities and exploration. The dogs love it too. And it's a fun way to meet new people and also run into friends/acquaintances in unlikely places. It makes the city feel smaller. I love that about New York.
Any weekend getaways?
My default is my home in Litchfield County. It’s an easy and scenic two-hour drive from Manhattan, yet a world away. The area boasts some of the best restaurants outside the city (check out Community Table) and offers endless hiking trails, charming towns, and serene nature. Our home is a restored 1700s colonial, complete with sprawling gardens. I usually spend time with my dogs and enjoy the beautiful weather.
What was your last great vacation?
I attended a friend’s wedding at The Ritz in Paris, an unforgettable, magical experience. After, I went skiing in the Austrian Alps with a group of friends. I love skiing in Europe, and we try to plan a group ski trip every two years. I do want to try Japan next though –– I hear the skiing there is incredible.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
My wardrobe. I used to joke that fashion sense was the one gay superpower I wasn’t born with — stuck between “country club prep” and “realtor.” Recently, I’ve taken an interest in fashion and style, and now I can’t stop. I’m firmly in my beige and cream era. It has certainly changed my outlook on day-to-day life and given me a new form of creative expression. Plus, one thing about New York, people are friendlier to you when you look and feel good.
What store or service do you always recommend?
Dogtown in the West Village. If you have dogs in the city, you know how difficult it can be to properly exercise and socialize them. Colin and Julie have a true passion and love for dogs. They offer training, grooming, boarding, and daycare — all in one. The dogs have the best time and make great friends, which is so important. Otherwise, dogs can become depressed sitting in an apartment all day. Plus, I’m afraid of dog parks (not afraid of the dogs as much as the owners).
CULTURE & LEISURE • Apple Picking
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard • Forest Hills Stadium (Forest Hills) • Fri @ 530p • GA, $63 per
Violent Femmes • Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards (Lafayette, NY) • Sat @ 6p, GA, $60 per
Kenny Chesney • MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, NJ) • Sat @ 5p • section 113, $283 per
CULTURE & LEISURE LINKS: City’s first center for Dominican arts and culture to open in 2026 • All-news radio station WCBS ending its 60-year run • ‘Color War’ captain: the new status symbol for camp parents • Hello Coach, goodbye brat summer: What Gen Z are buying now.
BARS • Martinis
One for you, one for me
On the picking-up-steam gentrification train that is Knickerbocker Ave. in Bushwick, it's not uncommon to see Latinx produce markets next to owner-operated fashion ateliers, across from pawn shops, hard by snout-to-tail butchers, and artisanal sandwich shops. This makes it a perfect destination for when I want to sip a gorgeously executed high-low martini in a new(ish) neighborhood watering hole, then pick up the right supplies to make one myself at home.
The watering hole in question is Palmetto, which opened in February 2020 and sports an Amalfi Coast via (late aughts) Lower East Side vibe. My partner and I sidled up to the bar as the late sun began to filter into the room, illuminating its pastel hues. For her, the guava pisco sour; for me, a dirty martini with house brine, pickled fennel, and yuzu. The space is large enough to allow ambient conversations to flutter by, but small enough that the barkeep could go down a rabbit hole of mixology with me.
On the stroll home, we stopped by the Calderon Brothers Fruit Market, which in a past life was an Italian grocery store and somehow, resisting the logic of space and time, still sells the city's best Italian-style garlic-marinated olives. They're in a deep metal tray, inside the juice cooler on the right wall, just past the cashier. Grab the slotted spoon and scoop yourself a quart container, and take them home for continued martini exploration.
Finally, in the immortal words of Tina Turner: You can do this two ways — there's the easy way, and there's the less-easy way. Just like Tina, we'll start off nice and slow. –Matt Levy
Nice and Slow Martini
Toss some vodka into a pint glass.
Add a spoonful of dry vermouth.
Stir with a chopstick or long-handled bar spoon.
Strain into a cocktail glass.
Add a garlic-marinated olive.
Once you’ve mastered this one, it's time to step it up a notch.
Even Slower, Definitely Nicer Martini
The night before, pour a tablespoon of olive oil and some minced garlic from the olives into a bottle of vodka. Shake, then pour entire contents into a wide-mouth mason jar. Place in freezer overnight.
When ready to drink, remove the jar from freezer. The olive oil and garlic will have infused the vodka, but the oil will have risen to the top of the jar. Scoop it out, discard it. Congrats, you now have garlic-olive-oil fat-washed vodka.
Pour back into your vodka bottle, fine-straining if possible.
In a pint glass, add 2.5 oz garlic-olive-oil fat-washed vodka and 0.5 oz Dolin dry vermouth.
Fill with ice, and stir for 30 seconds.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a garlic olive, and enjoy.
GETAWAYS • The Nines
Restaurants, Portland, ME
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of the best in NYC and surrounds. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundny.com. For the full archives, click here.
Central Provisions, elevated small plates spot that’d be a hit anywhere