July 11 2018 | By Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya for Eater NY
Jonathan Benno’s Italian Bakery And Cafe Opens In Nomad
Acclaimed former Lincoln chef Jonathan Benno’s Roman-inspired bakery Leonelli Focacceria e Pasticceria opens in the Evelyn Hotel in Nomad today, serving Italian pastries and focaccia in a bright setting with lots of marble and brass.
Benno made his return to the NYC dining scene last month with the opening of Leonelli Taberna in the hotel, which similarly pulls influence from both Roman cuisine and Italian-American cooking. Much like Gabriel Stulman opened a pastry-centric cafe called Studio in conjunction with Simon & The Whale in the Freehand Hotel, Benno now has two distinct but related concepts within the same hotel, located at 7 East 27th St., between Fifth and Madison avenues, that cater to breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The cafe doubles as a pastry shop as well as a focacceria, serving savory focaccia and Italian sweets. Pastries include biscotti, cookies, cakes, and candies. The cannoli are filled to order, and flour is milled in-house. Sfogliatelle, a type of filled pastry that resembles a seashell, are formed by hand.
Thick focaccia bread comes topped with ingredients like mozzarella, tomato, and basil. There’s also a fennel sausage, hot peppers, and scamorza variation. And the cafe’s offering soups, salads, and focaccia sandwiches too, like a fried chicken sandwich and a tripe cutlet sandwich with hot peppers. Drinks include drip coffee from La Colombe, espresso, teas from SerendipiTea, and Italian sodas.
There’s still more Benno to come in the Evelyn Hotel, with plans for a flagship fine dining Mediterranean restaurant called Benno in the works. Leonelli Focacceria is open daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., with breakfast served until 11 a.m.
Read more about it on Eater NY.
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