By Creme Design
Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, Community Smith will replace Briza adjacent to the Renaissance in Midtown in early January. Executive chef Micah Willix (previously of the short-lived Latitude at Phipps and Ecco) is billing the restaurant as a “modern meatery.”
“We’ll have chicken, fish, beef, pork, and lamb, prepared in different ways—not just big hunks of meat,” Willix says.
Despite growing up vegan, Willix wanted a restaurant that “would stand the tests of time,” he says. “It’s a concept that evolves—it’s not stuck in a box.”
Menu items may include crispy clams with potato, crème fraiche and caviar; pan-roasted mussels with Calabrian chilies and charred toast; porchetta with rosemary elote, sweet peppers, and aioli; and smoked beef cheeks with berbere, coconut, and hard squash. Vegetarian-friendly dishes include roasted cauliflower with pickled mustard and turmeric; and cheese and toast with fresh herbs.
The 137-seat restaurant will be divided into a dining room and tavern with a twelve-seat patio. The dining room will feature reclaimed oak, leather-upholstered banquettes, and green plants. The tavern will be more casual with wood beams and rustic high top tables, subdued lighting, and a transparent bar wall.
Willix has yet to hire a lead mixologist, but the bar will offer craft spirits, classic cocktails, and a small, approachable wine list. There won’t be any draft beer; instead, all brews will be bottled, local, and seasonal.
