From the Ashes of Del Posto, Al Coro Aims to be NYC’s Marquee Italian Restaurant

According to the New Age philosophy known as Human Design — a Gwyneth Paltrow-endorsed remix of the Myers-Briggs test that pulls from astrology, chakras, and the I Ching — Jeff Katz is a manifestor. What does that mean exactly? “I’m not an expert,” the acclaimed restaurateur behind Crown Shy and Saga admits, but his wife has been telling him as much for years, and a professional “reading” last year confirmed her suspicions. If Goop is to be trusted, his foresight is top-notch.

Katz talks around manifestors, reiki healing, energy work, and the reason he burned that sage last year from the dining room at Al Coro, an upscale Italian restaurant he and chef Melissa Rodriguez have been dreaming up for the last decade — mostly while working in the dining room and kitchen that came before it. It opens on June 22. Two people, Jeff Katz and Melissa Rodriguez, pose for a photograph at an ornate bar counter. Owners Jeff Katz (left) and Melissa Rodriguez.

“We didn’t sit down on day one and say, ‘Okay, what are we doing here?’” he says. “We’ve been having these conversations for years. We manifested this.” The restaurant at 85 10th Avenue, between West 15th and 16th streets, was most recently home to Del Posto, the Italian fine dining institution from the Bastianich family and chef Mario Batali that closed unceremoniously last year. At that time, Katz and Rodriguez were effectively running the show — as the restaurant’s general manager and executive chef, respectively — but they knew they needed to be owners to shape the future they wanted. Or move on from the complicated past they didn’t.