Edge of the Edge, Eyal Shani Opens Naked Tomato in Williamsburg

Down in South Williamsburg, where Kent Avenue hugs the East River, a waterfront development still under construction has a new tenant. A chef from Tel Aviv has put a tomato on a plate and made it the main event.

Eyal Shani opened Naked Tomato on Wednesday, October 14, on the ground floor of Williamsburg Wharf. DiningOut calls it a love letter to the tomato and the Brooklyn sister of Shani's Miami restaurant of the same name. Shani, the chef behind Miznon, HaSalon and the Michelin-starred Shmoné, has opened more than 60 restaurants around the world, according to Forbes. This one is built from his own back catalog.

The Tomato, Peeled

The signature is as plain as the name. A Real NAKED TOMATO is a peeled tomato sliced into rounds and served as is. Shani told Forbes he picked up the peeling from hosts in southern Italy, where it is a sign of extra care for a guest. "It's actually not simple at all," he said. "You have to know how to peel it, the width of each cut." His verdict is that it is "the best sashimi you've ever had in your life."

Around it the menu runs to five sections with poetic titles, among them "Let's Start From Here" and "Vegetable Creatures We Chose by Hand." Forbes points to green beans in a bag with lemon garlic vinaigrette, Lokus Chrime in spicy desert tomatoes with tahini and schug, and three chicken skewers. DiningOut adds a tomato pasta and a giant chicken schnitzel.

Winter is the obvious question for a menu led by tomatoes in New York. Shani says the kitchen has found growers who raise them in hydroponic glasshouses through the cold months. "We're getting real, beautiful tomatoes in every season," he told Forbes.

The Counter

The news for regulars of his empire is the seating. Naked Tomato has a menu served only at the kitchen counter, a first for Shani, according to Forbes and DiningOut. Guests sit slightly raised, facing the cooks, and each plate is handed over by the person who made it.

Shani describes it as "a kind of omakase, with no distance between the chef and the guest." The counter plates include a small pot of mussels, baguette bruschetta with anchovies and the North Abraxas burger, brought over from his Tel Aviv restaurant of that name. It comes as three bites on a house-made bun, with tomato squeezed over the patty.

"It's the feeling of experiencing a candy, not a burger." Eyal Shani

The cocktail list borrows from the group's restaurants around the world. The house drink, the Naked and Tomato, mixes mezcal, lime, Aperol, Strega, tomato and basil, per DiningOut.

The Room

Kimmel Eshkolot Architects designed the space. Forbes describes an industrial room with original flooring, exposed concrete, high ceilings and big windows. There are dining tables, banquettes and two bars, and the counter sits apart as its own world.

Shani says that when he first walked in, the dining room and the counter felt like "two worlds in one." Of the location, he told Forbes, "It's the edge of the edge to me."

The restaurant is an early tenant in a project that is still rising. Greenpointers reported in February that the Wharf, spread across addresses from 460 to 490 Kent Avenue near South 11th Street, had begun its first phase of leasing and was years from completion. Forbes says it will eventually hold about 950 residences in five towers.

What to Know Before You Go

Dinner only, and not late by Suite 646 standards. Per the restaurant's site, Naked Tomato serves from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It is closed Monday and Tuesday. Reservations go through Resy, which lists the address as 476 Kent Avenue, and the phone number is (347) 768-5378. Prices were not published in the sources we read.

For another big-name chef opening a new room in New York, see how Daniel Humm went casual in the West Village.

Order the tomato. Then watch what the counter does with the rest.