Nonprofit organization Rethink Food is opening a new restaurant, Service, in a 3,956-square-foot space at 116 West Houston Street, according to liquor license paperwork filed with the community board.
The restaurant, which will serve New American cuisine, will dedicate proceeds to providing meals for New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity.
The tasting menu-style restaurant will offer a set $100 meal, or $120 with wine pairings added. The proposed menu will focus on locally-sourced dishes including salads, ratatouille and lamb, according to paperwork. Dessert items include cakes, tarts and black-and-white cookies.
Plans for the space include 10 tables that will seat 26 as well as one bar that will seat five. The proposed hours are 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. daily.
Chef Matt Jozwiak founded Rethink Food after working in acclaimed kitchens across the world, including Auberge de L’ile Barbe in Lyon and Noma in Copenhagen. When he moved to New York City in 2015 to work as a chef at Eleven Madison Park, he saw an opportunity to address food insecurity with unused food.
“Working from a shared kitchen, Rethink Food began collecting excess food from Eleven Madison Park, NoMad and other restaurants, developing operational systems to transform surplus food into meals for local communities, and laying the groundwork for its mission to create a more sustainable and equitable food system,” the Rethink Food website states.
Chef Daniel Humm joined the mission in 2020 as a co-founder, and the team has now distributed more than 30 million meals. The nonprofit has also participated in events like the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, and the New York State Restaurant Resiliency Program, to further enact change to address food insecurity. They opened Rethink Food’s Sustainable Community Kitchen and dining room in Greenwich Village in 2024.
As of now, an exact opening timeline for Service remains unknown. What Now New York has reached out for additional details.
