BY CAROLINE BENVENISTE | The winter is typically a quiet period and this January was no exception. There was more activity than usual in bars, and a couple of Brooklyn spots have come or are coming to Manhattan.
Open:
Sip & Guzzle (29 Cornelia St., between Bleecker and W. Fourth Streets) has opened in the old Cornelia Street Cafe space. The project is the brainchild of Shingo Gokan and Steve Schneider, who were both bartenders in New York (Angel’s Share and Employees Only) before moving to Asia, where they opened a number of bars during the last 10 years. They describe their new venue thusly: “We are a bi-level concept offering two different experiences with separate food and cocktail menus. Downstairs at Sip you will find advanced, hand-crafted, bespoke cocktails created by the legendary Shingo Gokan. Upstairs at Guzzle you will find a bustling New York-style pub dedicated to familiar and classic cocktails.” Ramen by Ra at the Bowery Market (348 Bowery at W. Third Street) came highly recommended by one of our readers. This five-seat counter was” “conceived by Chef Rasheeda Purdie, and is the first Black-female-owned ramen shop in NYC. Chef Purdie draws from her Southern roots and channels them into fusion ramen offerings, such as bacon-egg-cheese (BEC), BLT, everything egg drop, gravlax and steak with soy egg. The Bowery Market is an indoor/outdoor food hall in Noho. Sappe has opened in the cursed space at 240 W. 14th St. (between Seventh and Eighth Avenues). The location has housed a large number of restaurants in the last year, most of them Italian, with the last one being Lisabetta. According to their press release, Sappe specializes in “elevated regional Esan-style train market & street food, plus creative cocktails featuring Thai spirits and ingredients.” This is the second act from the team at Soothr, a popular Thai spot that opened in the East Village in May 2020. The decor is quite different from Soothr’s, which has lots of wood. Sappe’s interior is white and neon, and at the back is a plexiglass window open to the kitchen. Beyond the main dining room is a hallway “that’s made to look like an alley or street market in Bangkok.” A back room will open in February. The cocktail menu describes their mixology approach: “Each drink depicts a dramatic story of the epic female protagonists from various Thai novels and films, whose lives are spicily shaped or influenced by alcohol.” Since the moment the doors opened, crowds have flocked here. Greenberg’s Bagels and Demo Natural Wines and Fine Food have opened next door to each other at 34 Carmine St. (between Bleecker and Bedford Streets). Greenberg’s, the popular Bed-Stuy bagel destination, will feature collaborations with other New York restaurants, such as a recent offering of a BEC made with Hometown BBQ’s pastrami bacon. Eater reported that this location of Greenberg’s shares an owner with Demo Natural Wines and Fine Food. As we reported last month, Demo will be a cafe during the day and a restaurant at night, with a focus on Mediterranean food, particularly seafood. The cafe part is now open, and the restaurant should open by early February. Quinque Crudo (27 Bedford St., near Downing Street) is a new restaurant from the chef of Casa Enrique in Long Island City and his brother. The restaurant specializes in Mexican seafood dishes, mostly raw but with some cooked options. Early Yelp reviews are extremely enthusiastic. Quinque Crudo joins the nearby Emily Loves Pizza and Daily Provisions, bringing more activity to a previously sleepy corner of the South Village.
Closing/Closed:
A reader notified us that popular beer spot Arts and Crafts Beer Parlor (26 W. Eighth St., between Fifth Avenue and MacDougal Street) was closing because their lease was up. Calls to the business indicate their phone has been disconnected. Comments on Yelp hint that the business might reopen nearby in a larger location.” “The Morningside Heights location is still open. Blank Street Coffee, at 300 Bleecker St. (west of Seventh Avenue South) has a sign in the window that says: “Temporarily Closed – We are giving this location a refresh! We will be closed for the month, and back open shortly.” Juice & Joy (434 Sixth Ave., between Ninth and 10th Streets), a cafe that served organic, gluten-free and vegan-friendly food and drinks, has abruptly shuttered. Neighbors had been complaining about the outdoor shed, which appeared shut and was covered with graffiti. Now that has come down, as well.
Coming Soon:
L’Appartement 4F (119 W. 10th St., between Sixth and Greenwich Avenues) is opening its first store in Manhattan, in the West Village. Their croissants, sold on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, have a cult following and it is not unusual for there to be long lines of people waiting to purchase their baked goods. According to the place’s Instagram page, the owners, the couple Gautier and Ashley Coiffard, decid- ed to open this location because: “When we delivered pastries during the pandemic, we had an overwhelming amount of orders in the WV. I fell in love with this location as soon as we saw it, and when we heard it was James Beard’s old apartment, it was a sign. Gautier also saw that it was a bakery about 100 years ago while filing paperwork.” Signage has gone up for Serpentine, at 64 Greenwich Ave. (between Seventh Avenue and Charles Street). The space previously housed The Village Sandbar, which opened in summer 2021 and closed two years later. The Sandbar was a follow-on project to The Original Sandwich Shoppe, a West Village institution that operated for 38 years at 58 Greenwich Ave. until its closure in May 2021.According to an unverified rumor, a pizzeria is opening at 465 Sixth Ave. (at 11th Street), the space that most recently housed Shu Han Ju. This is notable only because Famous Ray’s Pizza operated at that location from the 1970s until 2011. While there were/are a plethora of Ray’s Pizzas around the city, the Village location was long considered to be one of the better ones.
Other:
The Wesley, a plant-forward restaurant at 310 W. Fourth St. (near West 12th Street) has been closed for a month and is now relaunching with an expanded menu and new programming. Some of the programming will be collaborations with spirits’ producers. The “classic cocktails” seem anything but: They have poetic names, like Tales Of El Jibaro, Runs with Wolves and Monalisa / Madhatter, and unusual ingredients, like plantain, mochi, saffron and aquafaba. An after-hours menu has also been added with more unusual cocktails, such as the Decadence, which comes under a cloche which, once removed, allows a stream of applewood smoke to escape. There are also late-night food options, and the parmesan fries are not to be missed. With the reopening of The Wesley, the area between Bank Street and West 12th Street near W. Fourth has become quite a nightlife hub, but unlike other areas the vibe is quieter and more upscale with little accompanying street noise.
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