Osteria La Baia

"A Midtown Italian restaurant known as a frequent hangout for Mayor Eric Adams. It's currently involved in a lawsuit for unpaid rent by owner Zhan 'John' Petrosyants." - Melissa McCart

"The other night at Osteria La Baia, a 'coastal Italian' restaurant that opened last year, in midtown, a genial manager asked my party how we’d heard about the place. The truth was that we’d read about it. In February, Politico identified Osteria La Baia as a favored haunt of Eric Adams, New York City’s mayor. The meticulous investigation was missing only one key aspect: How was the branzino? A Caesar salad was palatable enough, if overdressed. The vitello tonnato, finished with caper berries, was unobjectionable—the high point of the meal, in retrospect—and I could muster only faint complaints about the lukewarm vegan pizza topped with delicata squash and green dollops of hemp ricotta. Chewy lobster did nothing to redeem limp garganelli. The rigatoni alla Norma was overcooked and undersalted, the eggplant in the too sweet sauce barely traceable. The branzino was presented gutted and splayed skin side up, with its head in a forward position, tail at attention, like a fish-skin rug. The edges of the skin were bubbled and charred, but the center was taut and stretchy. My companions and I poked halfheartedly at the white flesh beneath, which sat on a mess of olives, tomatoes, and sweet peppers." - Hannah Goldfield

"It’s no secret that Osteria La Baia, which opened in 2021, is the ostensibly vegan mayor’s favorite restaurant, where his usual order is a $55 plate of branzino with wood-roasted sweet peppers, smoked tomato, and capers. The restaurant is owned by “Robert and Zhan Petrosyants — twin brothers whose businesses Mr. Adams has supported despite the brothers’ past felony convictions, outstanding tax debts, and a trail of legal troubles,” the New York Times reports. Adams reportedly visited the restaurant 14 times in June; the Times said reporters never saw the mayor pay a bill, but the mayor’s office says he pays the bill monthly — without providing receipts." - Melissa McCart

"Midtown Italian restaurant Osteria La Baia — one of mayor Eric Adams’s regular nighttime haunts — is run by twin brothers Robert and Zhan Petrosyants, who have a checkered history of felony convictions, unpaid tax bills, and other legal issues, according to the New York Times." - Erika Adams

"Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo shared a meal in Midtown on Wednesday night, apparently to discuss “nothing political.” According to Page Six, the politicians were spotted at Midtown’s Osteria La Baia, a swanky Theater District restaurant whose grand opening Adams celebrated with a three-hour meal last November, prior to taking office." - Luke Fortney