Raf's
Restaurant · NoHo ·
European bakery & restaurant with Italian/French fare, wine
European bakery & restaurant with Italian/French fare, wine
"As a smaller neighborhood restaurant where Camari Mick served as executive pastry chef and partner before announcing plans to leave and open a new concept called L’Atelier Ébène, Raf’s is designed to give guests exactly what they want when they want it: a seasonal but consistent formula with initiatives like a croissant collaboration program born out of wanting to break monotony and to collaborate with guest chefs and the team. I was told Raf’s has lower check averages than Cafe Zaffri, but it’s valued for its community focus and for providing a space where pastry creativity and team-driven programming can thrive." - Bettina Makalintal
"Raf’s is a fantasy. It’s that home in Architectural Digest that never goes on the market, and the dinner party you’ll always try to throw but never quite achieve, in part because you don’t have Raf’s vintage wood-burning oven. Come here for perfect roast chicken topped with a pile of fresh herbs, and a simple little gem salad that should be boring, but isn’t. The small dining room has a perpetual sunset glow, and it features all the distressed mirrors, iron chandeliers, and fancy crown molding that your apartment (presumably) currently lacks." - Team Infatuation
"A fashion hotspot since its 2023 opening, the restaurant became Mick’s canvas for marrying French technique with Afro-Caribbean ideas, studying Moorish influences on Sicily through dishes like a harissa chocolate cake and a caponata danish, and running a Summer Croissant Club that included collaborations such as dorowot croissants with teff crumb and ayib in partnership with Hav & Mar’s Fariyal Abdullahi." - Bettina Makalintal
"An elegant French-Italian bakery and restaurant with a cozy bar where European-style breakfast fare shines: sourdough tartines with ricotta and seasonal vegetables, tomato-baked eggs spiked with guanciale and chiles, and an assortment of housemade sweet and savory pastries — notably a candied orange almond croissant — making it an ideal spot for a solo morning with a book or a refined weekend brunch; service is concentrated Tuesday to Friday." - Joy Cho
"Imagine how at ease you’d feel after an afternoon meal at this Noho restaurant where chandeliers shaped like tulip bunches hang from a ceiling painted to resemble a halfway cloudy sky. In addition to ambiance, the place offers European-inspired food along the lines of spaghetti with bottarga and salade niçoise." - bryan kim