I went to ThisBowl, in NoHo, at three P.M. on a recent Thursday, after the usual down-the-block line for the Asian-inspired salad-and-rice-bowl restaurant had finally dwindled. Inside, models in knee-length denim shorts and professionals on late lunch breaks sipped on housemade cucumber-and-Thai-basil soda and dug into the viral O.G. bowl, which has heaping servings of avocado, salmon sashimi, sushi rice, cabbage, and seaweed salad. Nic Pestalozzi, 30, and Nathan Dalah, 31, two of the three founders of ThisBowl, stood behind the counter, taking orders, cooking with their crew in the open kitchen, and calling out ticket numbers.
It was Dalah’s 40th consecutive day working behind the counter at the Australia-based chain’s first New York location. “It’s more strategic than functional,” he says. “I’m really [here] to steer the ship. I want to interact with as many people as possible, and I want to make sure the product going out is as close to what I intended as possible.”
