Headliner

EXISTING CONDITIONS Here’s a bar like no other in town. Start with the name, which alludes to the notion of taking a former bar space, in this case Whiskey Social, and giving it new life. “We’ve kept as much of the stuff that was here as possible,” said Dave Arnold, the avant-garde cocktail master who is in partnership with Don Lee, another drinks innovator, and Greg Boehm, who founded Cocktail Kingdom, which makes and sells barware and books. They will serve some beers and wines, and can stir a proper martini, but that’s beside the point. Their drinks are listed as nonalcoholic (sophisticated, at times sparkling, and priced at $15, the same as the alcoholic selections), carbonated, shaken, stirred straight up or on a big rock. Those in a hurry can buy bottled cocktails from vending machines with a $15 token. The ingredients they use are often extracted in a centrifuge or chilled with liquid nitrogen. But aside from such techniques, the cocktails are simple and focused, not assembled with a pantryload of components like many concoctions these days. “These drinks are all flavor-driven,” Mr. Arnold said. Mr. Lee added that they intended to show off ingredients in drinks like the delicious nonalcoholic Doyenne with clarified Comice pear juice, the fresh-tasting OG Celery with gin and a blast of celery, and the satisfying Professor Plum, which is like an old-fashioned with prune-infused bourbon. Bar food, from a simple plate of fries to a steak, are the work of the executive chef Josh Eden, formerly at August. (Scheduled to open by May 18): 35 West Eighth Street, 212-203-8935.

Opening

BOQUERIA This latest addition to Yann de Rochefort’s collection of Spanish restaurants, the fifth in New York (there’s also a Washington, D.C., branch), is the largest. Distinguished by a handsome curved wood ceiling that soars near the entrance, it seats nearly 100 at a generous island bar surrounded by booths with more tables beyond, heading to the big open kitchen. There’s also a chef’s table, an intimate private dining room with shelves of Spanish grocery products, and outdoor seating for 20. The menu, by the executive chef Marc Vidal, includes the tapas for which the restaurants are known, along with sandwiches, salads, paella and, for the first time, chicken and suckling pig from a rotisserie: 260 West 40th Street, 646-233-4078, boquerianyc.com.

BAR SALUMI What began as A&E Supply Co. last year is now this Mediterranean restaurant with an Italian accent that specializes in cured meats. The partners, Ennio Di Nino and Adam Harvey, have started making their own charcuterie, but are still buying most of it. (The original restaurant’s retail butcher counter has been discontinued in favor of in-house curing.) The restaurant menu includes clams casino, lobster carbonara and porchetta: 548 Fourth Avenue (15th Street), Gowanus, Brooklyn, 718-635-3388, bar-salumi.com.

UNA PIZZA NAPOLETANA This is one peripatetic pizza. Anthony Mangieri began his professional pizza career in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., over 20 years ago. He moved his operation to the East Village in 2004, to much acclaim; a 2009 article in The New York Times called it “perhaps the most meticulous pizzeria in New York.” He let his dough rise overnight and sold his pizzas until it ran out. He then pulled up stakes in 2009 and, lured by the weather, headed West, opening a site in San Francisco in 2010. Now he’s back in New York, with the partners Jeremiah Stone and Fabian von Hauske Valtierra, who own Contra and Wildair down the street. There are seven pizzas; the small plates on the menu are devised by his partners. (Monday): 175 Orchard Street (Stanton Street), 646-692-3475, unapizza.com.