The Daily Grocer, the meal kit service created by Tribecan Lee Weiss, has reopened on the corner of Warren and West Broadway. Many of the meal offerings are the same — and just as good — but he is also offering some dry goods and plans on adding more of that in the new year.

I am a huge fan of their meals and the concept — if you are like me and you don’t love to cook nor do you like to order out and you think the usual meal kit delivery programs are silly with waste, this is the spot for you.

Weiss is a veteran of the restaurant industry: he’s been working in commercial dining for forever, most recently taking over the food program at the Metropolitan Museum with chef Bill Telepan but before that at Eleven Madison Park, The Musket Room and as GM for the Downtown Eataly.

The idea for meal kits is not original — Blue Apron, FreshDirect, HelloFresh are all out there — but there’s three things going on here that I love way more: chef-designed with incredible sauces; fresh that day and not shipped from who-knows-where; and almost zero waste. Anything that doesn’t need to be packaged isn’t; all the wrappers are compostable; the sauce containers are reusable. Plus this is a simple retail operation: no subscription necessary. (They also deliver.)

The recipes are simple but prepped in a way that folks will not necessarily do at home. For instance, the miso salmon has to sit for a while in its dressing, and the chicken is brined for six to eight hours — “that’s a good chefy thing that no home cook will do on a busy weeknight,” Lee said.

The prices are around $30 for a meal for two.

On the shelves they’ve got good olive oils, salts, special sauces (like a chili crisp developed by a chef from 11 Madison Park) and a $12 roasted banana ice cream from the former pastry chef at Contra (he now has an ice cream and wine bar in the East Village called Caleta) that seems nuts, but Lee said he couldn’t resist. “I wanted to sell something cheaper but I also wanted to sell something awesome. And this is special.”

To come: lunch.

The Daily Grocer
80 West Broadway | Chambers and Warren
Monday to Friday
noon to 8p