New Rochelle's Newest Openings Are Built for the Hours Between Meals

"A place where everybody can come, kick back, have a drink, relax, meet new friends, and strike up a great conversation." That is how Gianni Liporace described The End Tavern to its first guests at the ribbon-cutting on Pelham Road, as Patch reported on August 27.

Liporace's pitch is a drink and a conversation, and that modest goal describes nearly everything that has opened in New Rochelle since late summer. The additions since August are set up for short visits you can repeat: a beer by the Sound, a morning coffee downtown, a round of tapas and sangria near City Hall, and possibly a bowl of ramen in Wykagyl. Taken together, they give a weekday more places to stop between work and home.

Seven in the Morning on Lecount Place

Affogato House at 48 Lecount Place opens earliest. It runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. The café's own website lists coffee, gelato, affogatos, pastries and lunch. It brews Coffee Project beans and gets its pastries from Balthazar every day.

An affogato is gelato with a fresh shot of espresso poured over it, and the café is named for it. The house copy describes the day in segments: "morning coffees, afternoon affogatos, and the shared moments in between." One menu covers the commute, the mid-afternoon break and the after-school stop, and the 7 p.m. weekday close leaves time to come by after work.

Chef Nduvo Salaam and Ryan Moorehead own the café, according to a Journal News photo gallery of new Westchester openings published October 29. The café is also in the New Rochelle Downtown BID directory at the same Lecount Place address.

Lecount Place is in the middle of downtown, so you can walk there from much of the city's center. The café's long weekday hours and coffee-and-gelato menu mean you don't need a plan or a booking to stop in.

Small Plates at 2 Memorial Highway

The Andaluz Tapas & Wine opened October 16, according to the Journal News. The paper's caption says tapas are the focus. The same gallery names Diego Garcia and Marco Nieto as the owners.

The Andaluz's website says it pairs "traditional Spanish favorites with contemporary Italian touches" at 2 Memorial Highway. The drinks list has wines, cocktails and house-made sangria next to the tapas.

Tapas fit the pattern well. You can order one plate and one glass, or keep ordering until the table is full. Two friends can treat it as a stop on the way home or stay the whole evening. The Journal News photos show both a full dining room and a bar, so there's room for either kind of visit.

A Neighborhood Bar at 765 Pelham Road

Toward the Sound, The End Tavern opened August 28 at 765 Pelham Road, according to the Journal News summer openings gallery. The ribbon-cutting came the night before. Patch's Jeff Edwards wrote that the space "has undergone plenty of changes over the decades" and called it historic.

Patch reported that the bar stocks high-end spirits and craft beers but has "the approachable feel of a neighborhood bar." Local officials were among the first guests. The paper also reported that the payphone in the bar actually works.

"The End Tavern, we're excited to be here to build a place for the community, to the surrounding people."

Gianni Liporace, owner, speaking at the ribbon-cutting as reported by Patch

The tavern already has an event the night after this post goes up. An Eventbrite listing shows a speed-dating mixer at 765 Pelham Road on Friday, November 20, from 7 to 10 p.m. That kind of night fits the room Liporace described at the opening, built around meeting people over a drink.

The New Places Side by Side

Here are the three new places, with where each one sits and what it serves.

None of the three is built around a long, formal dinner. Each one works for a single coffee, a single drink or a single plate.

Up North Avenue, a Familiar Space Changes Hands

The North End had its own change this season, and it fits the same pattern. On August 18, Talk of the Sound reported that The Wooden Spoon would close after 11 years. Owner Nick Triscari announced the closing in a Facebook post. In that post he wrote that the restaurant spent nine years on Division Street and its last two on North Avenue.

A week later, the Journal News reported the closing in a roundup headlined around "news of a ramen shop coming." The story noted that one of the empty spaces already had a sign for the next restaurant.

The Journal News named that ramen shop in its September 14 fall preview. The paper photographed chef and owner Gene Lum outside the planned Duke's Ramen in the Wykagyl Shopping Center space that used to be The Wooden Spoon. Lum told the paper he hoped to open by October.

Duke's Ramen already has a shop in Mamaroneck, which is listed on the Duke's website. In a December 2025 piece on ramen in the county, Westchester Magazine described Lum's bowls there, including spicy pork and chicken chashu ramen, and a tonkotsu broth that simmers for eight to 12 hours.

A broth that takes half a day to make and minutes to eat fits the same pattern as the other new arrivals. A bowl of ramen is a full meal in one order. It works the same way as the coffee on Lecount Place, the sangria on Memorial Highway and the beer on Pelham Road: easy to repeat and finished in under an hour.

How the Map Fills In

Put the four addresses on one map and they cover most of the city's length. Pelham Road runs along the Sound in the south. Lecount Place and Memorial Highway are downtown. The Wykagyl Shopping Center is on North Avenue in the north. Each spot is close to a different set of streets, so the new place nearest your house depends on where you live. All of them are casual places you can stop into without much planning.

That matters most on ordinary weekdays. Affogato House opens at 7 a.m. and stays open until 7 p.m. through Saturday. The Andaluz serves small plates you can stop after one of. The End Tavern opened with the promise of a place to kick back and meet new friends. On North Avenue, Gene Lum's plan would bring the ramen from his Mamaroneck shop to the old Wooden Spoon space at Wykagyl.

The first thing on the calendar is Friday, November 20, from 7 to 10 p.m. on Pelham Road, when The End Tavern hosts its speed-dating mixer. On a Sunday, remember that Affogato House closes at 3 p.m., so go before mid-afternoon.

I've spent more than 25 years watching blocks across New Rochelle and lower Westchester change one storefront at a time. When a café, tavern or ramen counter opens near a client's street, I note it because it changes how that street works day to day. If you're thinking about what your home is worth with the city's newest spots nearby, April Helene Monaco can walk you through it. Get your free home valuation and personalized market plan, and I'll include the local details that go into the number.