Jan 3, 2014 By Christian Murray
About 130 people turned out for the opening of a new Long Island City restaurant on Wednesday.
Blend on the Water, located on the ground floor of 45-40 Center Blvd, opened its doors to the public for the first time and will now be open for dinner seven days per week.
The big draw is its 10 foot windows, which provide sweeping views of the East River and Manhattan. At night, according to workers, the lights will be kept dim as a means to showcase the glistening New York skyline.
The restaurant has hired Kelvin Fernandez, 28, to be the executive chef. He started working at Blend’s 47-04 Vernon Blvd location in September, as he got ready for the launch of Blend on the Water this week.
Fernandez, who is of Dominican heritage, was the executive chef at the Strand Hotel in Manhattan before taking this role. He also worked at Water’s Edge under chef George Masraff and was the runner-up in the Food Network’s Chopped.
Kelvin Fernandez
Fernandez said the restaurant is opening in phases. “We are going to start by offering dinner first and with time open for brunch,” he said. The restaurant is likely to begin offering brunch in spring/summer and will also open its outdoor patio that can seat 50 people around the same time.
The restaurant is currently open seven days (Sun-Wed. 5 pm-10:30pm; Thursday-Sat. 5 pm-11:30 pm).
Over the course of the next few weeks, Fernandez said the restaurant will be limiting the number of people it serves each night. “We will limit it to a little over 100,” he said. “We want to make sure that people get the proper service when we start.”
Fernandez recommends that people make reservations at opentable.com. The menu is soon going to be posted there too.
The food will not be the same as Blend on Vernon Blvd.
“My style of food is very different,” Fernandez said. “It’s a mix of French, Italian and American with Latin American ingredients.”
The appetizers at the new restaurant range from $5 to $11, Fernandez said, with entrees going for between $16 and $25.
Meanwhile, the owners of Blend are going to close down the Vernon Blvd. restaurant and open a different type of Latin-American restaurant in the same space. Fernandez did not know when that will take place.
Vernon Blvd location to be converted into another Latin-American restaurant
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10 Comments
HI… FIRST OF ALL I WANT TO SAY .. TODAY WAS MY FIRS TIME GOING TO THAT PLACE.. IT IS A NICE RESTAURANT, NICE VIEW.. THE SERVICE WAS NOT REALLY GOOD.. I THINK THE WAITER IS NOT A REAL WAITRESS.. NEED EXPERIENCE, NEED TO TRY TO PUT MORE ATENTION WITH THE GUESTS..
BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT I WANT TO SAY IS WHY THE MENU DOESNT HAVE THE COST OF EACH PLATE? I VISITE MANY EXPENSIVE RESTAURANTS… LIKE ” LA RUE” BLUE MOON… ETC AND ALL OF THEM YOU CAN SEE THE PRIZE FOR EACH PLATE.. I THINK IT IS ILLEGAL IN THIS CITY.. I WILL CHECK IT IS IS OK.. BUT EVERYBODY MUST KNOW THE PRICE OF EACH PLATE… I WOULD LIKE YOU CORRECT THIS.. TODAY WE HAD TO EAT ONLY THE SMALL MENU, I UNDERSTAND THAT BUT NOT TO FIND THE PRIZES IT WAS NOT NICE.. TKU SO MUCH
Ate at Blend on the Water last night. Wow! What can I say? I do not understand the good reviews of this place at all. For us, it was one disaster after another. It took about an hour for our food arrive after we ordered it, and after repeated requests for it. They brought all of our food at once–apps and entrees, much of it cold. The worst part was the service. Rude! Rude! Rude!
Be careful if you valet with Blend on the water. They park your car in the middle of the street. Last night the cops showed up and ticked the parked valet cars! Imagine getting a parking ticket with your check!
This restaurant needs to get it together. Expensive subpar food, terrible service, and they use the end of center blvd, between 46th ave and north basin road as their own personal valet parking lot. The other night they had cars parked in the middle of the road for hours in end.
Blend on the water,
Fire in the sky….
Cue famous, cliched guitar riff.
Have you tried that burger though! Wow out of this world
$17 for a burger!! Yeah, I get it that it’s made from braised short ribs, but still.
Prices reminds me of the Water’s Edge place on 44th Drive.
I have had some very bad dining experiences at Blend on Vernon, and they were rude on top of that. I hope they get it together for the new place.
Blend on Vernon is actually really good. Can’t wait to try the new place!
Myself and friend were having a great time at blend on Vernon in Long Island City. After a few drinks, dinner and dessert the waitress came to our table with the check that we had not ask for. I told the waitress we where not finished. We wanted to order more drinks. Before I had chance to mention that we were thinking about ordering another dessert. My friend and I were told ” That we had to give up from our table for other customers.” “If we chose to stay we would have to stay by the bar. ” I asked for manager. The manager came over and told us the same thing. ” That we need to go to the bar if we decide to stay. I told the manager as I pointed over to my left and stated to him ” That there were five empty tables to our left”, and “their was no one standing by waiting area for a table.” The manager didnt use any desecration and should have waited for other customers to arrive and use all available tables before asking anyone to leave. In all my years dinning out I have never experienced in an establishment ever, myself or anyone where they told that they needed to give up there table for other costumer, who had not even arrived yet before our dinnng was even over. Blend should be ashamed of themselves for having a manager and or staff represent them at this restaurant in this way. Its not the way costumers should be treated. Its disgraceful and disrespectful treating costumers in such a way.