[VIDEO] NYC's Best New Restaurant Is a Caribbean Smash Hit

Kabawa is one of NYC's hottest new restaurants, serving up Pan-Caribbean cuisine and led by executive chef Paul Carmichael. The fine dining space offers a prix fixe menu featuring modern takes on traditional Caribbean dishes such as pepper shrimp, chuletas can can, goat with spicy scallop Creole, and "jerk" duck sausage. Right next door is Bar Kabawa, a casual offshoot known for its popular fried and baked patties with a variety of fillings including duck, beef, and shrimp.

[VIDEO] 131 Duane Street - Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award

The pristine restoration of this Italianate loft building in Tribeca shows meticulous work by a team of preservation professionals. They succeeded in a minimally invasive scope of work that repaired the facade and brought back its grand original appearance.

The building was completed in 1861-62 for merchant Thomas Hope. For a century, its tenants included printers, clothing and shoe companies, and restaurants. Artists began to take residency on the upper floors during the 1970s. Their use ensured the building would survive, but a series of patches and repairs left it in less-than-ideal condition.

Throughout this project, care was taken to research and test treatments, and document existing conditions at every stage. The first step was removing a failing and inappropriate coating. Exposed historic fabric was repaired or if unusable, became the model for replacement pieces. Delicate, hand-carved Tuckahoe marble elements required several different approaches. The cast-iron entry level was rebuilt and the wood windows were replaced in kind. When the wind-damaged cornice was removed, signage from the original building name was revealed and restored: 131 Duane is once again known as the Hope Building.