Monday, August 9, 2010

Kurve/Rhong Tiam's long, strange trip is apparently over

Oh my what a wacky few years here on Second Avenue and Fifth ... where Kurve became Rhong Tiam East... the potted-plant neglectors here have been "closed for operating" illegally ... battled local taggers... given themselves a Michelin star...

The location is seemingly closed now... Let's start with Friday evening.



I walked by several times later and never saw any private parties inside. Unless it was off-site....




And people were stopping by to eat...



Yesterday, the place looked pretty dismantled...and the phone was not in service.




And all last week, there were offering 25 percent off...



To be honest, I actually called for delivery one night last week. Was curious about their food. However, I was told the special was reserved for people who would eat in the restaurant... not for people who wanted it to go or delivered...

Oh, also on Friday, a photographer and her subject were using the wall for whatever this was...



All Kurve Koverage.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am flabbergasted that it took this long to close. They must have had deep pockets going in. The design was so not EV and I heard the food was not good as well. Unfortunately, that location has been doomed since the murder in that place many years ago and how many Thai places does the hood need?

Ant

EV Grieve said...

Thanks for the comment, Ant. I still haven't found any of my friends/neighbors who ever had their food. It really did cater to tourists/out-of-neighborhood crowd.... and I would not be surprised if I walked by tomorrow and it was open again...

Anonymous said...

My fiance tried lunch once with another EV resident. The review was = bleh.

I vowed never to give them a dime to send a message that they had the wrong idea. I have to admit to being curious, but wasn't about to brave what I thought to be a chance for food poisoning due to lack of product movement. I rarely saw anyone in there, weekend or not. That's why I was shocked that it lasted so long. It does have that weekend warrior in the east village kind of thing going on, but I never saw even those people brave it much. I kind of still miss the italian place that was in there last. I wish Atlas down the street would move in, they never have enough space.

Ant

Robin said...

I live across the street and my roommates were obsessed with the pad thai. It was good to have across the street, because it served food until like 4 am on the weekends, so was awesome for late night munching. Plus, they always gave you water while waiting, so you wouldn't pass out there.

Anonymous said...

There was never a murder there. The infamous murder that you are talking about took place where the new Scandinavian restaurant is (corner of 2nd and 6th strret). Talking about knowing nothing about nothing.

EV Grieve said...

The Binibon, where Jack Henry Abbott murdered Richard Aden in 1981, was here at the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Fifth Street...

Anonymous said...

Rhong Tiam's original location on LaGuardia Place was amazing, but they were DOH'd last spring or summer and never reopened. The Second Avenue location was mediocre at best and will not be missed.

Anonymous said...

it was actually pretty good. much better than the cloyingly sweet and oversauced stuff at spice or that abysmal fake vietnamese place on 2nd.

Anonymous said...

yes, the original rhong tiam on laguardia really was amazing!! never tried second avenue though, but the decor alone was a dramatic departure. from the looks of the gramercy outpust, they've switched yet again to a more down-market takeout plan vs. fancier dine-in they had on laguardia.