Naked Tomato, the restaurant from Israeli chef Eyal Shani, is now open on the Williamsburg waterfront at 476 Kent Avenue, inside the Williamsburg Wharf development. Its sister location is at the Moxy South Beach hotel in Miami Beach, and the Brooklyn restaurant includes a chef's counter that diners can request when they book.

Shani and his business partner, Shahar Segal, run more than 50 restaurants around the world, according to the restaurant's site, in cities including New York, Tel Aviv, Paris, Melbourne, Singapore, Las Vegas and London. Their New York names include Miznon and HaSalon.

What the restaurant serves

The restaurant describes its cooking as naked food: seasonal, market-driven dishes that keep the main ingredient at the center with little dressing up. The menu changes with what is in season, and the tomato, as the name suggests, is the anchor. Plates are built for sharing and tearing at the table, and the restaurant's events information mentions fresh seasonal vegetables alongside larger fish, poultry and meat dishes meant for the table to split.

Everything is prepared in-house in an open kitchen, which is part of what the chef's counter seats look onto.

Three ways to sit

When reserving, guests are asked to choose a table type: the chef's counter, the dining room or the bar counter. The restaurant says it will try to honor the request but that table types are not guaranteed. Reservations are encouraged, and the restaurant says walk-ins are always welcome.

A few house policies are worth knowing before you go. Groups of 10 or more are served a prix-fixe menu put together by the head chef and should reserve by email at contact@nakedtomatonyc.com. There is a $50 cake-cutting fee per group, and corkage is $40 per bottle, with a limit of one bottle.

Hours

Naked Tomato Brooklyn is open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday. Posted hours are 4:30 to 10 p.m. on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 4:30 to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The restaurant does not open on Monday or Tuesday. Its reservation listing also notes brunch service on Saturdays and Sundays; check the booking page for current brunch times before planning a weekend visit.

Private events

The space can be booked for gatherings. The restaurant offers a dedicated area for semi-private events and partial buyouts, as well as full buyouts in which the room can be configured as one connected space or separate areas, for seated dinners or standing cocktail parties. Event inquiries for the Brooklyn location go to events@nakedtomatonyc.com.

About the chef

Shani was born in Jerusalem in 1959. The restaurant's biography credits his grandfather, an agronomist, with first taking him to local markets, fields and vineyards. In 1989 he opened his first restaurant, Oceanus, in Jerusalem, where he developed a cooking style built around regional Mediterranean staples: olive oil, fish, tahini, seasonal vegetables and tomatoes. His restaurant group's list of concepts includes Shmoné, which holds a Michelin star.

Where it is

Williamsburg Wharf is a 3.75-acre waterfront development along the East River by Naftali Group, with five residential buildings, a promenade, green space and ground-floor retail and dining. Naked Tomato occupies one of its restaurant spaces on Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg.

Getting there

The closest subway is the J, M and Z at Marcy Avenue, about a 10-minute walk east of the restaurant. The NYC Ferry's South Williamsburg stop at Schaefer Landing on Kent Avenue is a few blocks away, which makes the ferry a direct option from Manhattan or Greenpoint. The restaurant's phone number is 347-768-5378.

Reservations for the Brooklyn location are taken through Resy, linked from the restaurant's website, where you can pick a date, party size and whether you would like a seat at the chef's counter.

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