Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Rumors: 'Top Chef' alum Jeff McInnis will help revamp former Mama's Food Shop space



Over on East Third Street at Avenue B, Heart 'N Soul came and went in just a month or so this past spring after taking over for the 15-year-old Mama's Food Shop. (Read all about that here.)

Now, a tipster tells us that "Top Chef" alum Jeff McInnis has bought into the space ... and that he and building owner (and Mama's Bar owner) Richard Freedman are in the process of revamping the restaurant and designing the new menu. The restaurant will apparently be called Root & Bone.

During the summer, McInnis reportedly parted ways with the successful Yardbird Southern Table & Bar in Miami ... He told the Miami New Times that he'd "take advantage of this down time and do some staging in a few restaurants around the country."

Upon closing in July 2012, Jeremiah Clancy, owner of Mama's Food Shop, sent a doozy of a farewell letter to various media outlets ... noting, among other things:

Avenue B is a ghost town commercially, the community nature of the neighborhood has all but vanished, and it is over-run every weekend by a generation that has no vested interest in the East Village community except to visit on the weekends.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Note outside Heart N' Soul explains that the chef had a 'nervous breakdown'

Mama's Food Shop closes after 15 years; 'the community nature of the neighborhood has all but vanished'

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

what's with all the unappetizing names lately? root and bone? pearl and ash? blech!

Anonymous said...

"Root & Bone" sounds disgusting. It conjures images of gristle and greasy chicken bones. Not tasty.

Root & Bone should marry Cork and Fork!