New Mediterranean Cocktail Bar Opens In Hell's Kitchen

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — When you're an experienced restauranteur and your favorite spot closes, you can just decide to replace it.

That's what happened to John Dempsey and Maren Powell, who have over three decades of experience running eateries in and around Hell's Kitchen, including hits like 'ritas, B Side Pizza, El Centro and VYNL.

During the pandemic, the neighborhood lost many beloved restaurants, including a Mediterranean spot that was the couple's favorite.

But with Gilda, which opens Wednesday at West 47th Street and Ninth Avenue, they seek to bring back what was lost.

And in more ways than one.

The Mediterranean menu designed by Chef Jason Neroni and Executive Chef Eunice Rosario is filled with inspirations from Israeli skewer restaurants, like black garlic and molasses hummus, charred baba ganoush, Matbucha with tomato confit and smoked paprika, and Baked Sheep Cheese with Moroccan muhammara, dried apricots and mint.

Dinner showcases include labneh marinated chicken shawarma, lamb Shashlik with pomegranate amba, short rib shashlik, and baby lamb chops.

But the revival doesn't stop at the menu — Dempsey and Powell also wanted the experience inside Gilda to harken back to an "olde" New York, with hazy blue walls and a dark tin ceiling, zinc table tops and a back bar fabricated from an early 1900 card catalog.

An oversized antique ice chest sources from Pennsylvania stores wine, which Dempsey told online magazine W42ST that they found on Ebay.

It's not just old ice — a brand-new, unique Clinebell Ice Machine, which creates two 300 pound blocks of ice at a time, gives the cocktails a special touch.

Twice a week, beverage head Steven Rhea — previously of James Beard award-winning cocktail bar Maison Premiere — must harvest ice with a chainsaw before he can place the crystal-clear ice into his cocktails, like the signature Gilda martini: Xoriguer Gin de Mahon, extra dry vermouth, anchovies and Basque peppers.

To see the full menu and learn more, check out Gilda's website here.