when you want, where you want.
Wegmans Is Opening a Restaurant, and It’s Not What You’d Expect
Photo: Gentl + Hyers
In 2002, Wegmans opened its first restaurant, Tastings, in the grocery chain’s hometown of Rochester. In the same way that Texans flock to H-E-B for flour tortillas and Floridians proselytize for their Publix subs (and free cookies for kids), western New York’s Wegmaniacs swear by the chain’s cheese selections, chocolate layer cakes, and house-brand pantry staples. Still, a successful restaurant inside one of the company’s stores wasn’t guaranteed, and it did require some adjustments. “There’s a huge parking lot with 600 parking spots and shopping carts all over,” says chef John Emerson, a 27-year Wegmans vet. “We’re going to the grocery store to eat this high-level dinner. It’s kind of unnatural, right?” Wegmans solved the concern by moving the restaurant across the street, giving it its own parking lot and renaming it Next Door.
In New York City, diners are already used to navigating all sorts of surprising setups to get to the restaurants they want: The subway-station pizzeria, a Han Dynasty in City Point’s basement, the Michelin-starred tasting room tucked behind the seltzer displays at Brooklyn Fare. On April 30, Wegmans will open a Next Door in its Manhattan store, and in doing so is betting that its many loyal fans in the city will want to step through the brass doors of the store’s Broadway entrance to spend a whole evening drinking Champagne and eating chu-toro tartare and other “contemporary Japanese” dishes.
“Of course, there’s the Wegmans following, which obviously is very, very big,” says Oliver Lange, a German chef who has worked with Mario Lohninger and David Bouley. Lange is overseeing the opening alongside Emerson and Kazuya Matsuoka (who previously worked at Aburi Hana in Toronto). Like Next Door’s original location, the new menu is built around a sushi counter; a custom-built robata grill; and unfettered wholesale access to fresh fish from Japan, New Zealand, and Norway. There will be oysters and caviar, chirashi, king-crab legs, and koji-marinated rib eye.
While you’d be forgiven for associating Wegmans with suburban-size packages of cherry-vanilla seltzer and Bills-themed tailgating provisions, the company has a decadeslong history with sushi. Emerson, who is now the senior vice-president of restaurant foods, helped open the first location (in Princeton, New Jersey) to serve sushi that was prepared in-house — a move made across the entire chain in 2008. “We doubled or tripled sales because our sushi was just so much better,” says Emerson.
The scale of the business means more direct access to seafood for Lange. “Because of the infrastructure that they have built, we have access to all of the seasonal ingredients,” he says, explaining that he has developed a relationship with vendors at Tokyo’s Toyosu market through Wegmans. “We basically have access to firsthand information when something new comes out.” He gives another example, the king salmon that Wegmans has bought from the same New Zealand vendor for years. “When we place our order on Monday, delivery comes on Wednesday,” says Lange. “This fish was harvested the Saturday before, so it’s so fresh.”
Photo: Gentl + Hyers
Lange is also excited about the possibilities for fermenting with the koji that he sources from a vendor in Kyoto. Matsuoka says that sales of his robata-grilled rib eye almost doubled in Rochester after he started marinating the steak for six hours in koji. “That process gives great umami to the beef and also tenderness to the texture,” he says. “Once you bite it, you feel like, Wow, something’s different. Then our guests ask, ‘What did you do to this?’” While koji isn’t sold in any format in Wegmans stores yet, Lange calls it his “passion project.” (The restaurants also serve as R&D; high sales in the dining room for one item can translate to a move into the larger store.)
In contrast with the fluorescence of the grocery store, the restaurant is illuminated by tall windows, huge mirrored panels depicting oceanic scenes, and brushed-brass lighting fixtures. White tablecloths, velvet banquettes, and artificial live oaks give the space some hotel-lobby grandeur. In a city that’s increasingly become enthralled with upscale chains like Hillstone and Din Tai Fung, this might be just the kind of soft suburban comfort we’re looking for (in a former Kmart, no less). But Emerson understands some people still might wonder “why does Wegmans, a big food retailer, have high-end restaurants?” He compares the decision to Toyota running a NASCAR team — a natural brand extension that Lange says will help build credibility for the quality of the retail products, while acting as “an inspirational beacon for the whole company, for 54,000 employees.”
The impending opening has become a source of hometown pride for the restaurant’s Rochester regulars, too. “Even here in Rochester, our guests are talking about, ‘Oh, I’ll be there when you open,’” says Matsuoka, who leads the Rochester location’s kitchen. “I think our guests are so proud of Next Door.”
More New Bars and Restaurants