Restaurant-watchers might be stunned by Monday’s opening of Aqua New York, a block-long leviathan at 920 Broadway between East 20th and 21st streets.
If they never heard of it, it’s because it hid in plain sight during more than 18 months of construction, with no advance publicity or social media hype.
The bold launch is the brainchild of Aqua Restaurant Group founder and owner David Yeo. The company owns thriving Chinese restaurant Hutong uptown (in Vornado’s Bloomberg tower) and 19 more places in London, Miami, Hong Kong, Beijing and Dubai.
Aqua New York is a unique dual-cuisine concept with Italian and Japanese dishes – not “fusion,” but separate menus prepared in different kitchens. Customers can choose from either option.
Aqua spans 25,000 square feet including the kitchen and back-of-house facilities – much larger than the year’s other stealth eatery, Grand Brasserie at Grand Central Terminal.
The two-level, 432-seat Aqua extends through the entire east blockfront. It’s visible through Broadway windows at the southern end and snakes behind an Okta “Experience Center” to East 21st Street, where huge Japanese masks will soon cover windows.
The design by Robert Angell and Yeo himself nods to both Italian and Japanese traditions. A soaring tower of hemp rope rises above the huge oval bar installation called Aqua Spirits. A 70-foot-long sushi counter with cushioned seats is said to be the city’s longest.
Yeo coveted the space for six years but near-deals with landlord Rosen Group, a family-owned commercial owner with properties in 12 states, were thwarted when other tenants, including WeWork, beat them to the punch by leasing portions of the retail space Yeo craved.
Aqua’s the latest addition to the restaurant- and hotel-thick Broadway corridor north and south of 23rd Street. (A new Scarpetta is coming to the building just south of Aqua).
Yeo’s confident despite Aqua having little name recognition in the city. When we mentioned that street traffic on Broadway in the area had increased enormously in the past few months, he chuckled, ”Yes, they heard we were coming.”