March 28, 2011 Restaurant/Bar News, Shopping
Part 2 of the Progress Report focuses on the streets below Franklin (part 1 was Franklin and north). If you know more—or if I missed anything—email tribecacitizen@gmail.com. I imagine there will be updates to this one, too….
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PRIME ESSENTIALS
Location: 88 Leonard (at Broadway).
What we know: In February, CEO Josh Rahmani told me that Prime Essentials is hoping to become a Manhattan-wide chain, and that it will be about home goods and food as much as traditional drugstore wares. “Now hiring” signs have appeared in the windows, leading one to assume (given that employees have to be hired then trained) that the opening is at least a week or two away—something that was confirmed by Rahmani, but he’s loathe to set an actual date just yet. He said that the store had received a lot of feedback from locals about what they want stocked there, which they’ve been trying to accommodate.
••••••••••••••••••••• KRISTIN HANSON / FINE JEWELRY SCHOOL
Location: 60 Reade (bet. Broadway and Church)
What we know: Fine Jewelry School recently moved to the building that used to house to Anbar Shoes. The ground floor will home to Kristin Hanson, a jewelry gallery. (Hanson also runs the school.) Read more here.
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TINY’S
Location: 135 W. Broadway (between Thomas and Duane).
What we know: Back in November, New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist told the New York Post that he was opening a restaurant: “It’s a restaurant that [teammate] Sean Avery [who is a partner in Warren 77] and I are working on in Tribeca with some other partners. It will be one of my favorites. The menu is going to be high-end home cooking.” And then he told Martha Stewart that “the restaurant will be downstairs and a bar will be upstairs.” In December, Lundqvist gave a Swedish TV crew a tour of the raw space. In February, partner Matt Abramcyk (Smith & Mills, Warren 77) went before the CB1 Tribeca Committee for liquor-license approval. “The restaurant will serve light, modern American food with Italian influences, including a Tiny’s Burger with pickled beets, a fried egg and blue cheese, and Long Island Blackfish with celery root puree, sunchokes, new potatoes and carrots, according to a preliminary menu,” reported DNAinfo. “Tiny’s also plans to tap into the neighborhood’s bustling lunch crowd, offering sandwiches with house-made cold cuts for under $15.” It appears to be opening any day now.
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BRUSHSTROKE
Location: 30 Hudson (at Duane).
What we know: A collaboration between David Bouley and the Tsuji School in Japan, the long-gestating Brushstroke appears to be getting closer. (Peek in the windows like I do—you’ll see that it’s definitely coming along. The other night, it was lit up and very attractive.) In December, Bouley appeared at the CB1 Tribeca meeting about his liquor-license application. What we learned then: The restaurant will seat 86 people. There will be three set menus: four courses ($60), seven courses ‘and dessert’ ($95), and the ‘menu artisanal’ ($130). The menu will be extensive, with sushi, tempura, rice and noodle dishes (including handmade soba), cooked fish, cooked meat, a vegetarian page, and something called ‘Japanese Dainty,’ which featured options such as ‘home made half dry Bottarga,’ ‘Herring Roe with Konbu-Seaweed,’ and ‘Snow Crab with Lobster Tmalkey.’ The folks at Bouley say that they’ll be announcing an opening date soon. UPDATE: 3/29: A sign just went up: UPDATE 3/31: Brushstroke is “in friends-and-family mode,” reported Zagat, and set to open Apr. 15.
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SARABETH’S TRIBECA
Location: 339 Greenwich (at Jay).
What we know: “We’re going to have a nice retail section—baked goods and all the products that Sarabeth’s makes, in a separate area—and we’ll be serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” said co-founder Bill Levine in February 2010. He also said there would be outdoor seating, on Greenwich. As for when it will open, managing partner Stewart Rosen now says they’re “projecting late May.”
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SILVER LINING
Location: 75 Murray (between Greenwich and W. Broadway).
What we know: In November, the principals went before the CB1 Tribeca committee for liquor-license approval: Joseph Schwartz (former bartender at Milk & Honey and managing partner of Little Branch) and Vito Dieterle (a saxophonist and bartender at Little Branch) are taking over the basement level of event space Bogardus Mansion. Their partner in the jazz bar is the building’s owner, George Aprile. It’ll hold 125 people, including staff, although they may operate at a lower number; food will be served; the music will be mostly jazz and blues, with perhaps an occasional singer-songwriter playing unplugged. In January, Schwartz said the opening is “at least a month away,” and there’s been no recent word.
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EXERBLAST
Location: 100 Reade (between W. Broadway and Church).
What we know: From November: “We are thrilled to be opening our family fitness business in Tribeca where three of the partners either live or have children in the neighborhood schools,” emailed Kate Gyllenhaal, executive vice president, program design for eXerBlast. I couldn’t get more out of her at the time other than that they’re hoping to open early in 2011. The website of Windham Pilates in New Hampshire, however, offers an eXerBlast program, and here’s how it’s described: ‘Open to children ages 4–12 and their parents, this program challenges hand/eye coordination, speed, agility, rhythm, core strength and aerobic capacity. Using our active Sportwall and other apparatus, eXerBlast keeps everyone in the class moving, laughing and enjoying quality time together. This is one of the few fitness programs that you can enjoy with your child, regardless of your fitness levels.’” If that’s not clear, there’s now this video on eXerBlast’s home page.
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EMPORIO 50
Location: 50 Hudson (at Thomas).
What we know: In December, owner Eric Schlagman presented a new concept to the CB1 Tribeca committee: There were once plans for a chocolate café on the Hudson part of 50 Hudson (where Crewcuts opened in February), but Schlagman moved his restaurant’s entrance around the corner, on little-traveled Thomas. “There will still be chocolate,” he told the committee, “but we’ll be more focused on baking. We have an amazing baker.” Sure enough, the menu lists focaccia and ‘stuffed bread,’ sandwiches (one was grilled eggplant, ricotta salata, and greens), soups, pastries (chocolate covered pretzel bread!), and gelato. The restaurant, which may or may not be called Emporio 50, seats 50 in 1,200 square feet. Schlagman asked to sell beer, wine, and liquor, with occasional live music (acoustic only, from solo performers to trios).
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JUNG SIK
Location: 2 Harrison (at Hudson).
What we know: Jung Sik Yim, the chef/owner of Jung Sik Dang in Seoul, is planning a high-end Korean restaurant. I’ve just learned that it’s due to open in June.
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PEDIATRIC OPHTHALMIC CONSULTANTS
Location: 141 Reade (bet. Hudson and Greenwich).
What we know: As reported here in January, the Upper West Side’s Pediatric Ophthalmic Consultants, founded by Dr. Mark Steele, is opening a satellite office. The uptown location would not return calls about when it will open.
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SUPER LINDA
Location: 109 W. Broadway (at Reade).
What we know: Matt Abramcyk (see Tiny’s, above) is also opening Super Linda. In April 2010, he told the CB1 Tribeca committee that it would be a South American restaurant with 27 tables on the ground floor and a few in the basement (the ground-floor bar seats just five), and that his wife would be using the second floor for a salon business. The salon, Tenoverten, opened in December. It’s unclear where the restaurant stands.
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SUSHEIN
Location: 325 Broadway (at Worth).
What we know: In January, a couple applied for (and received) liquor-license approval from the CB1 Tribeca Committee for a kosher restaurant serving sushi by conveyor belt. I thought I heard work going on inside the other day, but otherwise it’s hard to tell what’s up.
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THE FLEA THEATER
Location: 20 Thomas (bet. Church and Broadway).
What we know: Last September, the New York Times reported: “Executives of Off Off Broadway’s Flea Theater said they had purchased a building downtown to create a new home […. The Flea] bought a two-story office building at 20 Thomas last December for $5.3 million, according to the artistic director, Jim Simpson. The Flea is ‘now in the quiet phase of a capital campaign to raise money to create at least two theaters within the 5,600-square-foot building.’” Meanwhile, the Flea continues to operate at 41 White.
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UNNAMED RESTAURANT & BAR
Location: 59 Reade (between Broadway and Church).
What we know: At a CB1 meeting I was unable to attend, someone named Alex Tortolani requested a liquor license for the old Spaghetti Western space.
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UNNAMED RESTAURANT AND/OR BAR
Location: 116 Duane (bet. Church and Broadway).
What we know: A liquor-license application for the space appeared on the March CB1 Tribeca Committee agenda, and then was postponed; at the meeting, it was disclosed that a vocal community member with a history of opposing liquor-license applications lives in that building.
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