Brian Loiacono’s French-Italian menu replaces Mads Refslund’s New Nordic cuisine at the recently reopened ACME in downtown NYC. With experience ranging from working at The Smile on Bond Street, and Ruschmeyer’s in Montauk, Loiacono is already in-tune with the discerning tastes of ACME’s fashionable crowd.
“Loiacono’s vision shows through house-made pastas and thoughtful dishes such as butternut squash steak with stracciatella and topped with sunflower granola, and beef tartare lightly seared and placed atop a pillow of aligot.” – WWD
Co-owner, Jon Neidich, speaks to the transition, explaining that ACME is now essentially a new restaurant, “ACME has always been a product of the chef and our new chef has a very different background and pedigree so the new ACME will no doubt be a very different restaurant.” – Zagat
As a board member for nonprofit art at Creative Time, Neidich brought in art from his personal collection to bring new energy to the dining space. “Three Chromogenic prints by his uncle Warren Neidich banner the back wall, while other works by a notable roster of artists including Julian Schnabel, Chuck Close and Alex Katz pepper the rest of the dining room.” – WWD
With the owners of ACME anticipating this departure, Refslund ended on a positive note and is exploring spaces for his own restaurant, “Acme and New York have taught me so much and created amazing opportunities and I appreciate the latitude the owners gave me to pursue my culinary vision…I have a lot of dreams! Before I was thirty, I wanted to have my own place and a Michelin star, and I was able to get that. Now, the new dream is to have two Michelin stars and more than one restaurant…” – Eater
Cover photo credit: Gotham Magazine
