Rendering by @foode.nyc

The folks behind Racines — Pascaline Lepeltier, Jared David and David Lillie — have crafted a new concept for their celebrated restaurant on Chambers Street and will open it with a new chef, Jonathan Karis, on June 13. Reservations open in the next days. It will be called, aptly, Chambers and in the renderings shown here it already looks gorgeous. This is such exciting news and the opening will breathe a little life into the block.

Karis was most recently the chef de cuisine at Gramercy Tavern, where he worked his way up from line cook when he was hired in 2015. (GT is still one of my all-time faves. What a great incubator of talent, both in the back and front of house.)

Rendering by @foode.nyc

They have redesigned the interior at 94 Chambers with banquettes, an 11-seat bar, a communal table and a four-seat counter that is essentially in the kitchen. But they are also redesigning the concept to reduce the pressure-cooker environment of most New York City restaurants by keeping the team and the menu small, opening just five days a week and reducing hours — they will start the night at 6p and the last seating will be 10p. The lowest wage will be $20 an hour and all employees will have access to health insurance.

Rendering by @foode.nyc

“On one hand, it’s obviously about satisfying our guests,” the team said in a press release. “On the other, and what is so commonly neglected, is that it’s also about being really good to ourselves, all of us, just as equally.”

Some other features that will make the business more Earth-friendly and simpler to manage:

• no takeaway or delivery
• no candles
• use of local suppliers of produce and ingredients
• an evolving menu depending on what’s available

Can’t wait.