How To Build a Second Restaurant

Southern Italian Leon’s is now open in Greenwich Village (817 Broadway, near East 12th Street). But just before the Fourth of July, I stood with a half dozen others in a framed-off section of the restaurant-in-progress. Among the group were two architects, a contractor, a project manager, and proprietors Natalie Johnson and Nick Anderer, the duo behind the restaurant they opened in 2019, Anton’s, a “low-key homage to old-guard New York specialties and traditions.”

Everyone was eager to start the holiday weekend, but first, we hushed to assess the hum of the HVAC system in what would become the private dining room. The consensus was that the noise wouldn’t be an issue.

Then Anderer noticed a new concern. “I don’t know if there will be enough clearance for the table with this column here,” he said, prompting tape measures to appear. “We can shave an inch or two off if it’s too close for comfort,” the contractor suggested. And so it went —problem, solution. Problem, solution? The challenges seemed to outnumber the solutions. They aimed to open in September, but the space appeared far from ready.

Having written about the restaurant business for 25 years, I still wonder why restaurateurs endure this grueling process. But this team has plenty of experience: Both Johnson and Anderer are seasoned veterans in the restaurant world. They met when Anderer was chef and partner at Maialino and Marta, and Johnson was the sommelier at Marta. Despite their combined expertise, following Anton’s, this was their first venture in creating a restaurant from a raw space.

Leon’s had been in the works for two years. Anton’s was named after Anderer’s great-great-grandfather, so they decided to honor Johnson’s great-grandfather, Leon, who emigrated from Alexandria, Egypt, to Naples, then the U.S.

“There is no blueprint for building a restaurant,” Anderer said. “I wish I could copy-paste timelines and checklists from past openings, but each one is vastly different.”

They began searching for a location during the pandemic, hoping for a good deal. “But we were finding the exact opposite,” Johnson said. They gave up until a fan of Anton’s offered them a lead: a former kitchen and bath showroom near Union Square. At first, they declined — breakfast service, a requirement for the lease, didn’t interest them. But after a year of discussions, they saw the potential and committed. Here’s what I learned while shadowing them through the process.

Trust is essential

Negotiating the lease took a year, and by the time they signed, they were already entrenched in planning. “As owner-operators, we want to control everything, but we can’t,” Anderer said. “You have to trust your team, especially the construction crew.”

Paperwork is daunting

The bureaucratic labyrinth includes permits from the State Liquor Authority, Department of Buildings, Department of Health, and more. Applications range from sidewalk seating to food-handling licenses. Restaurants must also display over 50 mandated signs — from “Employees Must Wash Hands” to allergy advisories in the kitchen.

Budgets always balloon

Unexpected costs are inevitable. For Leon’s, rerouting the ventilation system due to immovable pipes significantly inflated expenses. By September, far past their original opening target, the budget was “down to its barest remains,” Johnson said. Reserves had to cover final vendor payments, initial food and wine inventory, and staff training.

Design is in the details

Starting from scratch allowed Anderer to create a dream kitchen, more than twice as large as Anton’s. Johnson, meanwhile, designed a 3,000-bottle wine cellar. They also commissioned frescoes for the dining room and selected everything from lighting fixtures to ADA-compliant ramps. They finalized uniforms — white shirts, dark denim, champagne-colored crocheted ties — and coordinated deliveries, including lifting kitchen equipment into the basement. They fine-tuned the vibe through branding: logos, matchbook covers, check presenters, and more.

Menus are a journey

To develop Leon’s menu, Johnson and Anderer traveled to Cairo, Alexandria, Abruzzo, Campania, and Sicily, noting culinary overlaps between Egypt and Southern Italy. Dishes include tuffoli pasta with crab and coriander, a trio of lamb preparations, and pilaf al Hakim, inspired by Johnson’s family cookbook. Anderer spent a year recipe testing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner options of simple dishes like escarole salad ($21), spaghetti with bottarga ($24), pasta con le sarde ($25), whole fish, Italian or Egyptian ($69, $39 for half), and brick chicken Baharat ($35). Johnson has put together a wine list featuring Italy, southern France, and Spain, plus herbal teas and classic cocktails.

City bureaucracy is agonizing

The opening date moves twice as FDNY approval doesn’t come through until mid-September. The wait for Con Ed to turn on the gas is eternal. Holiday season is crucial for a restaurant’s survival, and Johnson and Anderer refuse to miss out. Anderer made a back-up plan: If the gas didn’t go on by mid-November, he’d install an electric oven and induction burners and swap them out when the gas goes live — another extra expense. But Con Ed turns on the gas in the nick of time.

Staffing is a marathon

Anton’s chef de cuisine, George Riddle, and general manager, Drew Arisco, will lead the team at Leon’s. Johnson assembled employee packages and worked with an HR consultant to ensure compliance with paid-time-off policies and safe workplace standards. After 150 interviews, they aim to hire 80 staff members and plan two weeks of training. Finding breakfast shift staff remains challenging.

As the push to open Leon’s continued, the duo prepared for friends-and-family tastings and a soft opening. “It’s like playing the hardest team sport you’ve ever played in your life, and every day is a new game against a different opponent,” Anderer said. Johnson added, “Anyone who does this, truly does it for the love of the game.”