Nightlife
SoHo’s ‘Sweet Rehab’ offers dessert therapy
BY SHAYE WEAVER
Those with an addiction to dessert
can feed into their vice at Sweet
Rehab, a new French patisserie
opening this month that will create
your delectable order right in front of
your eyes.
Located at 135 Sullivan St., the
dessert bar will offer up traditional
French sweets with a twist by chef David
Zaquine, who has constructed fi ne
French pastries for the Plaza Athenee
and Le Cinq at the Four Seasons Hotel
George V in Paris and Bagatelle in New
York. Unlike other dessert bars, Sweet
Rehab will give customers a frontrow
view of their orders being made
through an open kitchen.
“I want to show customers something
they’ve never experienced before — a
dessert bar that allows them to witness
the creation of their desserts from start
to fi nish, whether they’re stopping in
for a quick snack, strolling by on their
lunch break, or picking up desserts for
a dinner party,” Zaquine said in a statement.
The new spot, which will have both
a 14-seat full-service cafe and a to-go
patisserie, has been made to look like
vintage Parisian storefront with imported
and antique light fi xtures and
mirrors and a brass and steel glass wall
and an original 1904 brick wall. There
is also a storefront countertop with a
working chef station so passersby can
stop in awe of the craft being done live
before them.
“Our goal is to open the kitchen and
the French savoir-faire to the cosmopolitan
world of New York City,” said
Jerome Assouline, who co-owns Sweet
Rehab with chef Zaquine.
“David and I partnered because we
share the same passion for pastries and
culinary delicacies,” he continued. “We
combined my business background
with his Michelin-trained background
to create a dessert bar that brings a
new concept to consumers. It’s more
than ordering an item off the menu;
it’s about seeing the full creation of a
pastry, learning about the ingredients,
watching and talking to the chefs while
they work – an experiential dessert destination.”
What’s on the menu?
The menu will be seasonal and have
vegan and gluten-free options. Some
dishes include a peach blackberry/blueberry
cake (made with saffron-infused
peaches, fresh blueberry/blackberry
jam, a white chocolate and crunchy
granola mix, red fruit meringue, white
peach glaze, and orange peach mousse)
a lemon tart (with a crunchy almond
dough, lemon jam, fresh mint, a lemon/
lime cream, topped with a French
meringue and pieces of lemon confi t)
and an orange/caramel coconut eclair
(a choux pastry dough with hazel nut
sprinkles, orange blossom/caramel
pastry cream, dulce de leche chocolate,
coconut chips, and orange/mandarin
confi t). The recipes use ingredients
that are either imported like Moroccan
oranges and vanilla from Madagascar
— all of which are grown sustainably,
according to Zaquine.
Sweet Rehab will offi cially open on
Nov. 25, Tuesdays through Sundays.
Get a great read, and drink, at this Village bookstore
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
A new type of bookstore, where
readers can drink as they read,
has opened in the East Village.
Patrons of Book Club, which had
a soft opening on Saturday, can sift
through the store’s collection of East
Village history books with an espresso
or glass of wine — the independent
Third Street bookstore houses a cafe
and bar inside.
“If you are the kind of person that
wants to read at the bar and then maybe
talk about it, that’s cool,” said Nat
Esten, co-owner Book Club with his
fi ancée and fellow East Villager Erin
Neary.
The couple was inspired to open
Book Club in part because of their love
of reading at bars.
“It’s a nice juxtaposition to be in an
open social place but to also be absorbed
in a book,” Esten said.
But the store has something for everyone
— there is a faux fi replace with
comfortable chairs in the back of the
store for the truly solitary reader, bistro
tables for book clubs to gather and an
outdoor patio scheduled to open in the
spring.
“The space offers a lot of different options
for different kinds of people,”said
Esten.
Book Club is now open from 9 a.m.
to 9 p.m. during weekdays and eventually
will be open on Saturdays from 9
to midnight and Sundays from 9 a.m.
to 11 p.m.
Visitors will not be able to purchase
alcohol though until December when
the store fully opens.
PHOTO COURTESY BOOK CLUB
The interior of Book Club offers a cozy place to sit and read.
26 November 14, 2019 TVG Schneps Media