The Sizzle. The Salsa. Must be Rayuela.

You’ve never been one to follow rules, neither does Rayuela, the hottest new downtown eatery:


Rule #1: Recess games are for grade school girls.
Ignore it by naming your new L.E.S. restaurant Rayuela, after the Spanish word for “hopscotch.” Make the environment as sophisticated as the menu, and keep the stones on the walls, not the sidewalk.

Rule #2: Soups come before meals, desserts after.
Scoff at ordering standards and add avocado ice cream and cucumber sorbet to gazpacho. Create an entire menu that embraces free-spirited culinary hedonism with “freestyle Latino” (“Estilo Libre Latino”) style.

Rule #3: Don’t play with your food.
Defy with a game on a signature dish, Carica Rellena. Brand a hopscotch pattern on the Chilean fruit’s skin, stuff with duck confit and spinach. Serve over almond foie gras flavored with Spanish tetilla cheese and Peruvian potatoes.

Rule #4: Trees grow outdoors.
Toss it out with an imported olive tree in the center of your dining room. Add curtains to private tables on your second-level patio ceviche bar. Continue with modular, puzzle-piece-like sofas and switch them around to accommodate groups of all sizes.

Rule #5: Phone numbers are stored in a Rolodex.
Scrap it by organizing your wine list of 200 in a wooden Rolodex. Then, write your specials in sidewalk chalk on slate chalkboards. Top it off by using a typical hand ingredient, aloe, in the signature cocktail Pisco (quince, aloe vera juice, Barsol Pisco, Damiana liqueur).

Rule #6: Restaurants focus on food.
Let cocktails steal the spotlight. Bring on The Modern’s famed mixologist Junior Merino. Let him go wild with unique ingredients and a Latino flair (Piña Partida, anyone?).



Rayuela opens Friday (6/8).


Rayuela
165 Allen Street (Stanton Street)
Tel: (212) 253-8840
rayuela-nyc.com