Bait & Hook opens today on 14th Street and Second Avenue

Signs went up for Bait & Hook here at East 14th Street and Second Avenue back on Aug. 29, as we first noted. ... taking over for the short-lived Meatball Factory ... (which took over from the Pizza Hut-Nathan's-Arthur Treacher's combo).

Anyway, Bait & Hook opens today... and here is the official news release, cut-and-paste for your pleasure and my laziness...

On Wednesday, September 12th, the East Village will welcome its newest eatery in the form of Bait & Hook, located at 231 2nd avenue on the corner of 14th street. Bait & Hook will serve comfort seafood classics including: the signature Lobster Roll, smokey New England Clam Chowder and Lobster Mac & Cheese as well as original dishes like the Crab Chorizo Corn Pizza, Chicken Waffle Sandwich, bacon-topped Scallop Roll, White Clam Pizza and Shrimp Scampi Pizza, along with a fresh Raw Bar selection. Executive Chef Joe Bachman developed the no-nonsense menu for Bait & Hook, incorporating fresh, local ingredients to dish.

Bait & Hook offers a laid-back, relaxed atmosphere where seafood is the star. Diners can enjoy a reasonably priced meal without compromising high-end, quality cuisine and service. Bait & Hook provides the perfect destination for a quick bite, affordable date or a group gathering, with something on the menu to please everyone in your party. Including non-seafood items as well as vegetarian options.

"We wanted to open a place that offered New Yorkers an affordable, casual dining experience, with the feel of a seafood shack but the taste of an ocean-side eatery," said Executive Chef Joe Bachman.

With Labor Day behind us, Bait & Hook gives New Yorkers a chance to experience a summer treat all year long. The nautical-themed restaurant will transform the corner of 14th and 2nd into a New England hang out with a 23-foot bar serving 10-12 local craft beers and wines.

After stints at Park Avenue Café, Fulton and Neuman's Catering, where he created menus for high-profile clients like Angelina Jolie, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson, Executive Chef Joe Bachman was brought on to head the kitchen at Bait & Hook. Bachman brings his knack for creative dishes and high quality cuisine to the restaurant.

Bait & Hook will be both a neighborhood classic as well as popular New York City destination. Open seven days a week, serving lunch from 12PM-4PM and dinner from 5PM until late, Bait & Hook is an ideal spot to grab lunch on the go or a bite to eat after a long day of work with daily lunch and happy hour specials. The East Village location seats over 50 guests, allowing guests to enjoy the luxury of comfort-style seafood.

You can find the menu via the Bait & Hook website here.

[Updated] Meatball Factory becoming Bait & Hook

Workers are at East 14th Street and Second Avenue right now... putting up the canopies for what's taking over for the former Meatball Factory... it's called Bait & Hook, and a resident in the building says that it will be a seafood restaurant... which is likely better than a seafood factory...

Not sure at this moment if it's from the same owners ... or a new group of restauranteurs ...

Previously.

Updated:

Here's another view via @apartmentjeanie ... management is calling the new eatery a seafood shack...

The Meatball Factory looks rather closed

EVG reader Tony noted the following this past weekend:

The Meatball Factory/Pop-up Restaurant/The Meatball Factory Plus has not looked very open the past week, with no sign of any movement in other ways, either. Hopefully it is not going to become a 7-11 or IHOP East.

True. The space looked rather deserted when we stopped by. They were not open during their announced hours yesterday. The inside was in some disarray... there were dirty glasses ... empty shelves... scattered tables and chairs...

Perhaps, like several other restaurants (Prune, The Immigrant), The Factory took off last week for vacation. But there's no note... No message on Facebook... No outgoing phone message...

The Meatballers opened here on 14th Street and Second Avenue to some fanfare last October (our dearly departed reviewer liked it!) ... the place had a celebrity chef of sorts, "Top Chef" alum Dave Martin, who left in the spring,

The Factory apparently closed in early May ... quickly becoming a pop-up restaurant by The Hole people called Hole Foods.

It reopened in late May with an expanded menu that featured a little bit of everything. Sake! Sangria! Fajitas! A raw bar!

As you may recall from last July ... a Meatball Factory rep told an EV Grieve reader that the meatballs here "will put the Meatball Shop to shame."

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Renovations for the Meatball Factory

Meatball Factory back to meatballs, plus sangria, sake and a raw bar

OK, so The Meatball Factory apparently closed a few weeks ago on East 14th Street and Second Avenue ... quickly becoming a pop-up restaurant by The Hole people called Hole Foods.

On Friday, pcvstBee pointed out that...

The Meatball Factory was back! But! It's under new management... and they have expanded the menu to include fajitas, quesadillas and a raw bar ... not to mention more drink options...

Maybe they can add pancakes to the menu as well to compete with IHOP.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Renovations for the Meatball Factory

The Meatball Factory is now temporarily the Hole pop-up restaurant called Hole Foods

[EVG reader Michael]

It looks as if the Meatball Factory has served its last Meatball... at least for now...

Right under our noses at the Times today:

The Hole gallery opens a conceptual pop-up restaurant called Hole Foods, with a 40-person dinner. The artist Joe Grillo designed the Day-Glo-colored space.

Hole Foods, 231 Second Avenue. Saturday from 8 p.m. Invitation only.

It's the new (previously) secret project from The Hole Gallery on the Bowery. And this explains why several tipsters insisted that the Meatball Factory was a goner.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Renovations for the Meatball Factory

Meatball Factory closed for the moment

Over on 14th Street and Second Avenue, the 7-month-old Meatball Factory is closed... there's no sign, and there wasn't any sign of any workers on the scene. (Perhaps in the cellar?) There isn't a message on the restaurant's Facebook page or Twitter account (which haven't been updated the past month) ... and no one answered the phone when we called; no outgoing message ... so... we'll try again later.

Lux Living punches the clock at the Meatball Factory

Our blogging friend Lux Living has written a few reviews hereabouts. The new Phoenix. And IHOP. We suggested that he review Papa John's or the new Cheesy Bacon Bowl at KFC on the corner of Second Avenue and 14th Street. He mentioned something about angioplasty or stents or something. Whatever. Despite our directive, he instead walked across the street and tried something else. So I wouldn't dig in if I was you. Next one might be at your head. I don't know where it's gonna go. Swear to God.

By Lux Living

I had originally planned on writing a review of the atrocious pizza coming out of the Papa John's on First Avenue, but really, how much can one say about pizza too heavily seasoned with oregano and a sauce made with more sugar than a Cadbury Egg?

Instead, the other night I went to The Meatball Factory, which recently opened on the corner of Second Avenue and 14th Street. The Meatball Factory should not be confused with their rivals, The Meatball Shop, located on the Lower East Side. Ask and they’ll let you know!

The menu breaks down like this: Choose your meatballs and choose your sauce for $8 or $9. There are eight choices of meatballs made from ingredients that will please everyone from the tree- hugging vegans to the blood-sucking, red-meat lovers and everyone in between. Once you choose your flesh - or vegan option – you can match it with a choice of eight sauces including a Fire Roasted Marinara, Shroom Central and Hells Bells Vodka Sauce. Pizzas, salads, fries and other side dishes are also on the menu.

Knowing I’d be ravenous in 20 minutes if I didn’t include a carb with my dinner, I ordered the fettuccini with two Meatzza, Meatzza meatballs (braised certified Angus beef brand short ribs, hanger steak and filet, buffalo, potato & parmesan) and the Hells Bells Vodka Sauce – of course – (Absolut Peppar, spicy cappicola, red bells, San Marzano tomatoes, oregano and cream) and a Chardonnay. They only serve beer and wine which is why I did not order a Jack and Coke.

The service was a bit scattered — my food came well before my wine — but once I had everything I ordered there was no speaking at the table because I was too busy enjoying my mini Italian feast. The Fettuccini was a little over cooked, the meatballs were great and I want the recipe for the sauce. I’d have preferred a basket of sliced bread rather than the two mini slices that come with the dish and the tablespoon of grated cheese delightfully sprinkled on top. Yeah, that didn’t cut it. I’m American. I need a small bucket of grated cheese on my table at all times. I need control of the cheese. And a little pepper maybe? Got it?

Let me be up front and say I am not a fan of eating in cavernous-sounding spaces with multiple TVs. When I go out to eat I want to hear what my friends are saying and enjoy my dinner without listening to a bunch of assholes screaming at a Jets game on the TV. Though nobody was screaming that night — other than the blitzed chick at the bar who drank too much red wine — there are several TVs and nothing on the walls to absorb sound, so even with the room a quarter of the way full it was a bit loud.

I enjoyed my dinner and for the price – two fettuccini dishes with meatballs, a Diet Coke and a stupid Chardonnay coming in at $41 - I’d recommend it. It was nothing fancy but for a quick, decent Italian dish in the neighborhood, go for it. Much better than that damn IHOP!

The Meatball Factory opens today, puts up new mailbox

Earlier in the month, a resident who lives above the new Meatball Factory on Second Avenue and 14th Street noted that the restaurant had switched addresses.

The address of the previous tenant — the Arthur Treachers-Nathan's-Pizza Hut combo! — was 251. E. 14th St. But the Meatball Factory is using the address of the apartment building — 231 Second Ave., which caused some mail confusion ... all the Meatball Factory mail was going to the residents.

Anyway! Problem solved... the Meatball Factory put up a mail slot in the lobby of 231 Second Ave.

And thank you if you made it this far.

Oh, and The Meatball Factory opens today.

Meatball Factory opening next Tuesday; featuring the 'turducken' and more

Here's more information about the new Meatball Factory coming to IHOP Way East 14th Street and Second Avenue. Per Thrillist yesterday:

Surprisingly not a super-popular gym located just off the LIE, the Meatball Factory's a 1600sqft ball-eteria coming at you from OG Top Chef alum Dave Martin. The set up's like a rustic, industrial (rustdustrial?) bistro thanks to red brick walls, wine barrels aplenty, dark wood tables flanking the central bar, and a to-go counter, because you're going to need a snack on your way to working off all those meatballs at a gym just off the LIE.

If you still have an appetite, then here's a look at their menu via the Meatball website:

To be honest, we didn't make it past the Turducken: House Blend of Shady Farms Turkey, Bell & Evans Chicken, Hudson Valley Farms Duck Confit, Sage & Allspice (Dairy Free) $9

According to Thrillist, Meatball Factory opens next Tuesday. Eater has more information here.

Previously.

Late shift at the Meatball Factory

On Wednesday, we had a photo one of the awnings going up at the classy-sounding Meatball Factory on 14th Street and Second Avenue.

A reader, who happens to live in the same building, passed along another photo...

The reader notes that the Meatball crew has been working late. "Construction lasted until 2 AM [Wednesday] night/this morning! Not cool ... the construction noise has been getting later and later over the past few weeks."

As an aside, the resident notes that workers renovating the space painted 231 Second Ave. on the plywood. However, the address of the previous tenant — the Arthur Treachers-Nathan's-Pizza Hut combo! — was 251. E. 14th St. Which means various tenants of 231 Second Ave. have been getting mail for the Meatball Factory. No word yet on any secret meatball recipes.

Previously.