Moonlight Shines on 9th Avenue — Elevated Comfort Food to Light Up Hell’s Kitchen

Familiar faces to Hell’s Kitchen are opening a new restaurant on 9th Avenue, designed to make neighbors feel at home with food as comforting as it is complex.

Moonlight (772 9th Ave bw W51/52nd St) opens on Monday October 14, under the trusted leadership of Cuban restaurant Guantanamera ’s owner Mario Zarate and manager Evelina Klopocka, and chef Marcos Bidart. It’s opening in the space that previously housed Tommy Greco’s K Rico Steakhouse, which closed last August .

The restaurant will specialize in “elevated comfort food,” says Marcos, by putting innovative twists on American classics and combining techniques and ingredients from across the world, “melting together products of different origins.”

Opening Moonlight is like a homecoming for Evelina, who worked her first job nearly 20 years ago after arriving in the United States at an Italian restaurant called Julian’s at W53rd Street and 9th Avenue. Since then she’s crisscrossed the city, working at more restaurants than she can remember, most recently as manager at Guantanamera.

“What I like about this business is that you’re always interacting with people,” Evelina said. Even as a manager, “I would be at the office, and I would come up, talk to people, and go back to my work.”

Marcos and Evelina have spent the past year designing the food and drink menus, through relentless hours of research, trial and error.

Every dish has a story behind its development — and demonstrates a mastering of food chemistry.

The crackling shrimp (which makes an audible “crackle” when touched by lemon juice), Marcos explained, was inspired by Japanese shrimp tempura, but instead of panko it’s deep-fried in chicharrón (pork rinds), in a Spanish and Latin American style.

The jambalaya paella, on the other hand, adds a southern flair to a Spanish classic. The tuna tartar, served with nori rice paper and an avocado hummus, is also available as a vegan dish, using watermelon prepared to taste like tuna.

At first Marcos thought Moonlight would be a southern-influenced restaurant, “but when I started walking the streets, seeing the people, the restaurants in the area, the ethnicity of the people, we started to change to an international palate,” he said — with an emphasis on health and wellbeing.

Originally from Argentina, Marcos drew upon his French culinary training and years of experience working at Japanese, Thai and American restaurants.

The menu on opening day is just the tip of the iceberg — new items will be added over time and a lunch program will be introduced in the coming weeks.

Marcos is happy to share his knowledge with the world. “I give away my recipes,” he said. “When I give it away it’s like when your baby grows and has a life of his own.”

And it fuels his inspiration to develop new techniques. “At the end of the day, anyone can cook more or less with a recipe,” said Marcos. “But when you know why you’re doing what you’re doing — and understand the chemical reactions — that sticks in your mind forever.”

Evelina developed the specialty cocktails, which she sees as largely separate from the food menu. The ingredients are similarly international, including the signature Moonlight Blossom (hibiscus and chamomile vodka, lychee juice, grenadine and more).

Moonlight is a completely separate concept from Guantanamera (don’t come expecting live salsa), but it will preserve one key characteristic, which Evelina says Mario instilled in her from day one: hospitality and top-notch customer service.

“I remember when I started working there, he said go to this table and ask them if they are good. Ask them if they like it. Ask them why they are here,” Evelina said. “Not too many places you go to do that.”

Moonlight is located at 772 9th Avenue. It will open for dinner starting Monday October 14 and for lunch and weekend brunch in the coming weeks.

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