Thursday, January 31, 2019

Longtime East Village residents open Foxface, now serving sandwiches at Theater 80


[All photos by Stacie Joy]

Late last year, East Village residents Ori Kushnir and Sivan Lahat opened Foxface, a small sandwich operation inside the William Barnacle Tavern at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place.



The space — featuring a narrow sliding window facing the sidewalk with a small counter inside the door — became available after Feltman's moved out last fall after two-plus year peddling hot dogs from here.

The situation seemed ideal for Kushnir and Lahat, who are married and live in the building here at No. 80 between First Avenue and Second Avenue. A few of the ingredients were even grown in the garden behind the building.

After several weeks of limited hours, the two are now opening Foxface (as of yesterday) for business five days a week (see below for schedule).

Here's Ori on how Foxface came about:

We first moved into the building exactly 15 years ago, and have watched [owner Lorcan Otway] revive the theater and the bar after the Pearl Theatre left.

This past October we had just come back after spending five years in Japan where we had some fun with pop-up restaurants, and we'd been toying with the idea of opening something in New York when Lorcan told us that Feltman's was leaving to focus on his retail business.

We didn't know exactly what it was that we'd do there but the appeal of the commute and operating a mom-and-pop shop in the neighborhood was such that we just told Lorcan we'll take the space. We went ahead and renovated the kitchen, developed an initial menu of sandwiches and started serving food to the street and into the William Barnacle Tavern while working on seating arrangements, a nice wine list and other improvements.

We try not to make too much of a point about our background, the ingredients we use, etc., as we feel the food should speak for itself, but I will say that we must be the only place on St. Mark's Place using hot sauce made from chili peppers grown on the block, so their commute is as short as ours.



On the reception so far:

The first few weeks have been great, despite the cold weather. We opened quietly ... but feedback has been very positive and it's a joy watching people loving your food, coming back for more, and sending their friends over. The local business community has also been amazingly supportive — shout out to Abraço, and to the very friendly team at the Holiday.



On the menu:

We're trying to serve five sandwiches every day, with one or two new ones introduced every week, and a soup or stew during winter. I think the Smoking Fox (smoked boneless rib, coleslaw, pickles, homemade spicy sauce) is going to be there permanently as people love it, but otherwise we'll just keep changing with the seasons.

View this post on Instagram

Peter Peter - Egg, kabocha, gruyere, brie, pumpkin seeds.

A post shared by Foxface (@foxface_nyc) on


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Foxface is located inside Theatre 80, 80 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Hours — Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: 12:30-3p.m.; 6 p.m. until sold out. Saturday and Sunday: 1 p.m. until sold out

You can find their daily menu and other updates via the Foxface Instagram account at this link.

Thanks to Stacie Joy for all the photos!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I WILL BE GOING HERE! thank you, grieve & s. j., for the excellent reporting!

MrNiceGuy said...

good luck to them, I'll be visiting for sure! It's great to see the theater thriving and finding creative uses for the space!

Anonymous said...

I have eaten here several times and love the food and the space. I wish them lots of luck, it's a great addition to our neighborhood.

Shazziz said...

So wonderful it's not another Ramen joint (although I love ramen- we just don't need another one) and it's SANDWICHES which, unless you want a Bahn Mi or Veselka, it's hard to find in the hood! Can't wait to try the out!

Anonymous said...

I'm hungry now!!

VH McKenzie said...

Will check them out - and I'm also grateful it is neither a ramen joint nor another damn bubble tea shop.

Anonymous said...

Great post! I’m looking forward to visiting!

Ori Kushnir said...

Thank you everyone for your kind comments, we hope to feed you sandwiches that you will like.

Dan said...

Sivan and Ori really know their flavor profiles. Each sandwich I've tried has been unique and delicious. Not your run of the mill fare at all! Yummy.

pacman said...

Gourmet sandwiches with seasonal ingredients, perfectly constructed. Trying to limit myself to one per week.