Dimes: How Two Waitresses Built NYC’s Most Playful Food Empire

A Decade of Reinventing Downtown Dining

From Nolita Waitresses to Culinary Visionaries

In 2013, Alissa Wagner and Sabrina De Sousa traded Thai curry stains at Lovely Day restaurant for a life-defining Patagonia trek. Returning with clarity, they stumbled upon a Chinatown storefront whose “For Rent” sign became destiny’s wink . What began as a 300-square-foot deli selling chia pudding and black rice bowls now spans three interconnected spaces:

1. The OG Café: A pastel-hued grab-and-go where Wall Street traders jostle with ceramic artists for turmeric lattes
2. The Market: Curates Regime des Fleurs’ edible perfumes alongside foraged mushroom jerky
3. The Dining Room: An art deco temple where pickled persimmon tacos meet natural wine flights

“Pre-Dimes, NYC dining felt like a boys’ club serving meatloaf under moody lighting,” recalls Wagner. Their answer? A daylight-flooded revolution where vegetables star and machismo gets pickled .

The Dimes Doctrine

• Ingredient Alchemy: Menus feature apple blossom garnishes, activated charcoal dressings, and seaweed-infused chocolate
• Anti-Pretentiousness: “We want someone ordering 4dripcoffeetofeelascelebratedasour4dripcoffeetofeelascelebratedasour28 sea bass entrée,” says De Sousa
• Design as Flavor: Mint-green banquettes mirror their matcha cheesecake; staff uniforms evolve with Pantone’s Color of the Year

Their 2020 cookbook Dimes Times: Emotional Eating codifies this philosophy—a tactile manifesto with perforated recipe cards and staff karaoke playlists . “Cooking should feel like jazz improvisation,” Wagner notes, “not sheet music.”

Neighborhood Roots, Global Reach

While tourists Instagram their famous dragonfruit açai bowls, regulars know the real magic lies in:

• Community Karaoke: Sunday nights transform the dish pit into a mic-drop zone
• Rooftop Collaborations: Partner with Brooklyn Grange Farm for mushroom-growing workshops
• Zero-Waste Ambitions: Coffee grounds become ceramic glaze for in-house pottery classes

“We’re not just feeding people,” De Sousa reflects, “we’re designing ecosystems.” This ethos birthed their Market’s $98 “Dimes DNA” kit—wild yeast starters, heirloom seeds, and a zine on fermentive feminism .

Dimes-Approved NYC Bites

Expand your palate with their curated map of downtown deliciousness:

1. Soba-ya (East Village): Buckwheat noodles served in a whispered Japanese tea ceremony
2. El Rey (Lower East Side): Mezcal-spiked jackfruit carnitas that convert meat lovers
3. Superiority Burger (East Village): $6 portobello “burgers” that outsell Shake Shack’s beef
4. Regime des Fleurs Counter (Inside Dimes Market): Edible rose petal tonics for daring mixologists

Legacy in Layers

As Wagner plates a deconstructed kimchi Reuben (house-fermented, natch), she muses: “Food isn’t fuel—it’s hieroglyphics. Every bite tells our story.” A story now etched into NYC’s culinary canon, one iridescent seaweed crisp at a time.

*Contextual sources: Interviews and operational details adapted from Dimes’ 2020 cookbook development *