Ray-Ban House

Prosciutto, burrata and pesto layered between slices of crustless shokupan is the kind of sando that explains Ray-Ban House in a single bite. The kitchen works from a simple observation, that Italian and Japanese cooking share more ground than the maps suggest, and it uses Japan's milk bread sandwich as the frame for Italian ingredients. Shokupan, the pillowy white loaf behind the format, carries a mild sweetness that suits salty cured meat and fresh cheese. The restaurant sits in SoHo, inside the eyewear brand's two-story townhouse. It operates all day, and sandos anchor it. Alongside the prosciutto version, the team has put together a house pastrami sando with mustard aioli, which shows how far the format can travel from the Italian pantry. A raw bar has featured bluefin tuna with avocado and Sicilian olive oil, with carpaccio and tartare close by, and the small plates, Wagyu meatballs among them, point back to the cook's roots in Naples. Dishes arrive in sizes made for sharing across a table, in step with how New Yorkers eat today. Eyewear collections share the rooms with design books, vinyl records and collectible objects. Warm wood walls meet chrome accents, curved metal and mirrored ceilings above deep red floors, a mix of retro and futuristic touches that gives the place the feel of a gallery with a kitchen attached. The townhouse was conceived by the brand's internal creative team as a hybrid of product, music, food and community, and upstairs a private area offers customized versions of the brand's frames. Mornings lean light, with matcha and cold-pressed juices at the center, and the offering shifts toward raw dishes and shareable plates as the evening gets going. Diners can drop in for a single sando between errands or settle in with a group, and in both cases the surroundings stay part of the meal.