{"id":210656,"date":"2021-03-25T15:14:39","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T12:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/priyanka-chopras-new-restaurant-sona-to-open-in-nyc\/"},"modified":"2021-03-25T15:14:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T12:14:39","slug":"priyanka-chopras-new-restaurant-sona-to-open-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/priyanka-chopras-new-restaurant-sona-to-open-in-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"#Priyanka Chopra’s new restaurant Sona to open in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Priyanka Chopra’s new restaurant Sona to open in NYC<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Launching a fancy restaurant drenched in global star power is no picnic in a pandemic. <\/p>\n

Sona at 36 E. 20th St., drawing on the popularity of creative consultant Priyanka Chopra Jonas, opens Friday under still-tight restrictions: 50 percent seating capacity, no service at the bar and an 11 p.m. curfew.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0it opens without its multimedia<\/a> star attraction on hand to join in the festivities. Although actress Chopra Jonas, 38, posted on Instagram <\/a>earlier this month, \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see you there!,\u201d Sona\u2019s publicist told The Post she won\u2019t make tomorrow\u2019s opening. Sona\u2019s majority owner, entrepreneur Maneesh Goyal, 45, explained, \u201cShe hopes to be there a lot but she\u2019s spending the next months in London shooting a series<\/a> and it depends on her schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, her 61.4 million Instagram followers might wait to see the TV and film star\u2019s fabulous face in the flesh at Sona. Even so, Goyal, operating partner David Rabin and chef Hari Nayak, 47, take the plunge confident in their mission.<\/p>\n

\"Priyanka
Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas during a Puja prayer ceremony at Sona New York in Sept. 2019<\/figcaption>
Priyanka Chopra\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rabin said, \u201cI was concerned, of course,\u201d about the timing. But he cited the booming success of nearby American Bar, a place he recently launched in the West Village. \u201cWe just have to stay mindful of staff and customer compliance,\u201d when it comes to following the state\u2019s mandates, he said. \u201cNew Yorkers I think inherently want to do the right thing and get through this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hiring for Sona was a challenge, \u201cas it was tightening up with all the restaurants gearing up to return, but we were out early and found some strong people,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"A
Sona\u2019s black spiced roast chicken with Malabar Paratha<\/figcaption>
Melanie Dunea<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Restaurants owned or fronted by celebrities can be fiascos, like Britney Spears\u2019 laugh-riot, short-lived Nyla<\/a>, or long-running hits, like Robert De Niro\u2019s Nobu \u2013 a place that helped inspire Goyal\u2019s vision for Sona. He said he yearned to create a place that would do \u201cwhat Nobu did for Japanese food, make it a destination for great cuisine and of the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chopra Jonas got the eatery itch on top of a career that\u2019s included acting roles in movies such as the Oscar-nominated \u201cThe White Tiger\u201d and TV series \u201cQuantico,\u201d a\u00a0Miss World pageant title, a best-selling memoir<\/a>, work with UNICEF on social and environmental causes, her own production company, and marriage to pop star and actor Nick Jonas. She was named one of the world\u2019s 100 most influential people by Time magazine and one of the world\u2019s 100 most powerful women by Forbes.<\/p>\n

But her role at Sona is harder to pin down. \u201cHer fingerprints are all over Sona,\u201d Goyal said. Her role is to \u201cmake the space, the food and the music a global Indian experience,\u201d said Goyal, who\u2019s taking the restaurant plunge for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"Interior
The dining room at Sona<\/figcaption>
Melanie Dunea<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The chef, Indian-born Hari Nayak, exemplifies the globe-trotting, entrepreneurial toque \u2013 he\u2019s launched restaurants everywhere, from Bengaluru, India, to Hoboken, NJ, and authored seven cookbooks. <\/p>\n

The key on-the-ground figure at Sona might be respected New York restaurant and nightlife operator Rabin, whose places include the Lambs Club and the Skylark. He modestly said, \u201cI\u2019m an operating partner with Maneesh. My biggest contribution\u00a0was a pre-existing relationship with our designer, Melissa Bowers.\u00a0She developed a nice rapp<\/a>ort with Priyanka.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Maneesh
Maneesh Goyal<\/figcaption>
Kevin Mazur<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Goyal, who\u2019s friends with both Rabin and Chopra Jonas, calls himself the project\u2019s \u201cinitiator.\u201d A few years ago, he and Rabin reached out to Nayak to oversee the kitchen and called in Chopra Jonas. As Goyal recalled, the star said she\u2019d get involved, but, \u201cnot until I try the food. And then I want my mom to try the food.\u201d They arranged for a tasting \u2013 and Sona was born. Construction started in late 2019 with plans for a summer 2020 opening, but had to pause for the citywide shutdown.<\/p>\n

Sona faces competition from the city\u2019s cresting wave of fine Indian restaurants that are varied and sophisticated. Chopra Jonas described Sona\u2019s culinary approach on Instagram as, \u201cthe very\u00a0embodiment of timeless India and the [flavors] I grew up with,\u201d and everything from Mumbai street food to Goa\u2019s beachy flavors.<\/p>\n

Although the food wasn\u2019t available to taste before the opening, it sounds like India\u2019s Greatest Hits as tweaked by Nayak with a few of Chopra Jonas\u2019 personal favorites. \u201cA dish with Portuguese influence from Goa, street food,\u00a0butter chicken from the north,\u201d Goyal said.\u00a0He noted there will be more seasonal variations that are usually found in Indian restaurants, but he stressed, \u201cIt is Indian \u2013 not fusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Crab Puri and caviar at Sona Restaurant<\/figcaption>
Melanie Dunea<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sona\u2019s menu is still a work in progress. But small plates are to include goat cheese and spinach samosas with red chili dip, popcorn prawns with mango pickle aioli and tandoor roasted beets; main courses include Goan fish curry with coconut seafood broth and butter chicken with charcoal smoked tikka. <\/p>\n

It\u2019ll all be served in a pair of romantic, white-tablecloth dining rooms separated by a lounge as designed by\u00a0Bowers, and they\u2019ll have 16 outdoor seats as well. \u201cSona\u201d means gold in Hindi and there\u2019s plenty of it in wall coverings, columns and mellow lighting meant to evoke the late years of the Raj.<\/p>\n

Chopra Jonas Zoomed into a Hindi prayer blessing ceremony for the restaurant on Monday. It will take more than grace to see Sona through the current crisis \u2013 but Goyal\u2019s not worried. He cheered on Instagram, \u201cHere we go!\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n