(Bloomberg) -- Now that the divorce of MacKenzie and Jeff Bezos is final, it’s time to turn the page. And focus on subjects like where the world’s richest man can eat near his new $80 million penthouse complex in Manhattan. 

Bezos has a penchant for unlikely food. He’s eaten iguana; he also famously shouted out “breakfast octopus,” using the seafood as a metaphor for buying companies. “You’re the octopus that I’m having for breakfast. When I look at the menu, you’re the thing I don’t understand, the thing I’ve never had. I must have the breakfast octopus,” Bezos is reported to have said.

He’s coming into a neighborhood around 26th Street and Fifth Avenue that’s had its ups and downs in the culinary world. Besides big, shuttered storefronts such as the old RH (née Restoration Hardware) flagship, several high-profile restaurants have closed in the neighborhood since 2017. They include A Voce at 41 Madison Ave. (the former chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant Missy Robbins has found great success in Brooklyn at Lilia); the steakhouse BLT Prime, which shut its East 22nd Street dining room at the end of December to relocate uptown; and the popular seafood restaurant John Dory at the Ace Hotel, which closed in February. 

The streets around NoMad and the Flatiron District still have their heavy hitters, though. Just across the park is the renovated Eleven Madison Park, the former No. 1 restaurant in the world. Closer, by a few steps, is the original Shake Shack that put the ShackBurger on the map. (To note: This location is one of the few where you can’t order ahead.) Also scattered within a six-block radius are the elite Mexican dining room Cosme (the best restaurant in America right now, if you’re tracking the World’s 50 Best), the terrific Korean steakhouse Cote, destination Cal-Med cooking at Upland, astonishing Korean small plates at Atoboy, and swanky everything at the NoMad.

But beyond those stalwarts are fantastic drinking and dining spots that have opened in the last year or so, just in time to welcome Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. Here’s a list of new places that they won’t have to travel far to get to.

Rezdôra

At Rezdôra, which means “grandmother” in Modena’s Italian dialect, no one should leave without eating pasta. Chef Stefano Secchi is an alum of Osteria Francescana, which twice won World’s Best Restaurant, and several of his pastas have whimsical names such as Grandma Walking Through a Forest in Emilia—code for tender spinach cappelletti stuffed with creamy, sweet roasted leeks. The $90 pasta tasting is a deal, and the Italian-focused wine list has some unusual selections. But if Bezos walks in, Secchi would recommend the spaghettoni con vongole (clams) with a brothy sauce replete with parsley and plenty of garlic. “This is one of my favorite dishes,” says Secchi. “We hand-make the spaghettoni every day, so even though it seems like a simple dish, a lot of work goes into it. I think Jeff would appreciate that.” 27 E. 20th St.

 

Lamalo

The Middle Eastern restaurant from Breads Bakery owner Gadi Peleg on the northern edge of NoMad is redefining hospitality by offering a spread before you’ve even looked at the menu. That’s what Peleg recommends for Bezos if he walks in: “It’s a wide variety and comes fast—he would like that.” The dozen or so small dishes include a terrific labne, baba ghanoush, skordalia (garlicky potato dip), and pickled sumac onions, arrayed around a slab of rippling, just-baked bread called Jerusalem laffa ($25). If you can make it past that, there are main courses like Shabtai-style  fish fried in chickpea batter and a major slow-roasted bone-in short rib. Arlo Hotel, 11 E. 31st St.

 

Bourke Street Bakery

The first U.S. branch of the beloved Australian bakery takes its superior loaves so seriously that there’s a chalkboard timetable for when they’re put out: Seeded sourdough and white sourdough are generally available daily at 8 a.m., while the chorizo thyme roll appears at 11 a.m. The cafe, which has about 50 seats, also serves sandwiches and sweets, but if you get one thing besides a flat white, it should be a sausage roll, just voted best in Australia in the Uniquely Aussie Awards.  15 E. 28th St.

 

Benno

At yet another new neighborhood hotel, the Evelyn, ex Per Se chef Jonathan Benno oversees the luxe tasting menu dining room, which starts at three courses for $105 and features lobster, duck, and dry-aged sirloin. For Bezos, Benno would insist on the corzetti pasta with clams, Greenmarket broccoli rabe, and walnut sauce. “Corzetti is a unique pasta shape, hopefully as intriguing as octopus,” says Benno of the coinlike discs. “Plus they’re stamped with ‘JB.’ He and I have the same initials.” 7 E. 27th St. 

 

Broken Shaker

While the scene may be a bit young for the 55-year-old centibillionaire, the rooftop bar at the Freehand Hotel evokes the retro vibes of its original Miami Beach location with panoramic views of the city. The burger comes with yuca fries and mojo mayo, and there’s chicharron with the sour cream and onion dip. From the drinks on the tiki-styled list, head mixologist Evan Hawkins says he’d make Bezos the Bad ’n’ Bitter cocktail (bourbon, Campari, blanc vermouth, watermelon, sea salt) because “it’s a gentleman’s drink—boozy, bitter, with a hint of summer.” Freehand Hotel, 23 Lexington Ave., 18th Fl.

 

Simon & the Whale 

Meanwhile, sitting on the ground floor of the Freehand, Simon & the Whale operates throughout the day with a menu of tweaked hotel standards. Chef Matt Griffin makes pork hash with Calabrian chili (forget the corned-beef version) and bowls of coconut rice porridge in addition to overnight oats and black pepper grits. At both lunch and dinner there’s a little gem tonnato salad, served with bagel chips, and a fish of the day sandwich with fries; the dinner menu has a pork chop with an egg on it. Late night, drinkers heading down from Broken Shaker can order the Simon Burger with jack cheese, tomato aioli, jalapenõs, and crispy shallots. Freehand Hotel, 23 Lexington Ave.

To contact the author of this story: Kate Krader in New York at kkrader@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Justin Ocean at jocean1@bloomberg.net

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