The Entrepreneurs Shaping Tribeca’s Next Wave

One of the things I love about this neighborhood is that even when the changes come slowly, they usually come with a story.

So many of the new businesses opening in Tribeca right now are not just another lease signed or another logo in the window. In several cases, they are the result of someone deciding to take a real chance on this neighborhood: a chef opening a restaurant with his own point of view, a longtime bar owner trying to bring back an old favorite, a founder returning downtown with a business that started here, a cooking-events company taking on a landmark building.

That feels worthy of showcasing here.

Take Seventy Seven Alley, which opened in March inside the Walker Hotel on Cortlandt Alley. Chef London Chase has worked in London — naturally — as well as Los Angeles and New York, and the result does not feel like a generic hotel restaurant dropped into a lobby. There is an eight-seat chef’s counter, rotating art on the walls, and a menu organized around flavor rather than some neat regional identity. In a neighborhood that can sometimes feel crowded with concepts engineered by committee, this one feels as if it came from an actual person.

Then there is Anotheroom, which is trying to return to the neighborhood, now at Washington and Vestry. That one has a built-in fanbase. Owner Craig Weiss ran the original on West Broadway for 26 years, and the idea now is not to reinvent the old but to reestablish it anew: craft beer, wine by the glass, cocktails, a little food, and, if all goes according to plan, none of the extras that tend to make neighbors nervous. No DJ, no live music, no private events. Possibly even a daytime cafe. For people who miss the old Anotheroom, this looks like a return to form.

A very different kind of bet is Faux, George McNally’s restaurant coming to Church Street. It has already gotten attention because of the last name, but it also sounds like an ambitious project in its own right. There will be a dining room upstairs, a separate downstairs bar space, and Kristina Ramos leading the kitchen. Tribeca sees plenty of openings, but this is the kind of debut that arrives with curiosity attached to it well before anyone has had a meal there.

EVENTO / Italia Like Locals is interesting for another reason: it is not really a restaurant at all. The company is moving into Bogardus Mansion (75 Murray Street) with a business built around pasta-making classes, pizza nights, private events and corporate gatherings. That may sound niche, but it is also a smart use for a large downtown building. More to the point, it is the work of people building something that feels social and local rather than purely transactional. Tribeca tends to respond well to businesses that give people a reason to gather.

Matchaful also belongs on the list, especially because this is a business with real downtown roots. Founder Hannah Habes started the company with a location on Canal and West Broadway, and the planned return to Greenwich and Harrison feels more meaningful because of that history. There are lots of beverage brands in New York. Fewer have an origin story that actually intersects with the neighborhood they are coming back to.

The same goes, in a different way, for Jay’s Pizza, now open on Chambers. There is no grand theory here, nor does there need to be. It is a slice shop, and Tribeca can always use a good one. But even there, it is worth noting that the owners are longtime collaborators who set out to open a classic New York pizza place in a neighborhood where that kind of straightforward local business still matters.

And then there is the gallery world, which continues to choose Tribeca as a home base. Southern Guild is opening at 75 Leonard, bringing its Cape Town-founded program to a new New York space. Tribeca still has the kind of streets and spaces that make people want to build something serious here, whether that is a restaurant, a shop, a studio or a gallery.

What ties all of these spaces together is how special and unique they are. They reflect the ideas and identities of the entrepreneurs powering these businesses, and, in a city where more and more storefronts seem cookie cutter, it’s a testament to the draw of Tribeca that so many new businesses want to call our streets home.

This is also why I’ve been so happy to call Tribeca home for the past 20+ years, and why I try to pay attention and spread the word about upcoming openings like these. If you hear of anything you’re excited about, share it with me at hdomi@heatherdomi.com. I’m also looking for new recs!