On Tuesday, Eater reported that Max, the 12-year-old Italian place on Avenue B near Fourth Street, was opening a new location in Williamsburg this spring. In a follow-up piece today, The Wall Street Journal reported that Max is actually closing its East Village location.
Luigi Iasilli, an owner, wrote in an email that he plans to close the East Village location as the neighborhood is getting "slow."
"I finally found what I believe I was looking for," he said of his Williamsburg site. "For me, [it is] going back to the roots, small space, $3,000 rent, a small yard, a mixed ethnic neighborhood with only a bodega across the street."
Slow?
Anyway, this departure will leave four empty storefronts on the east side of Avenue B between East Fourth and East Third Street. Just think — four new bars.
I can kind of see what Iasilli means by "slow." Max was always a very popular neighborhood-traffic kind of place. Now the "hot" (bleh) restaurants seem to cater to tourists (Beagle, Momofuku). The new residents seem to want to eat at Papa Johns and other suburban franchises. When it's not slow here, it's because the screaming vomitors have descended for the weekend, and they don't care about quality food at all. Or maybe I'm just feeling cranky about the hood lately.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I liked Max. :( Good luck in Brooklyn.
I was never crazy about Max. Its getting to be a lonely block though...
ReplyDelete"Just think - four new bars" - You're right, probably a mix of sports bars and likely a yogurt joint will open in these spaces.
ReplyDeleteJust think; this is the block that Save the Robots was on 1990-1997. For people not familiar with Save the Robots. Well, their KILLER parties were perhaps, the most epic after hour events in all of downtown New York for the 90's.
Ok, I've got to go cry somewhere now.
oh cr2p. max, i will miss thee dearly. thanks for all the fantastic food!
ReplyDelete(please don't go)
"cranky about the hood" I agree. Max's to me shows the trend, when it first opened I was happy to see another local option. Went there recently and it wasn't so good. Really noisy with "destination party-ers", sauces that were startlingly sweet (sugar!) or salty. Just not a good experience.
ReplyDeletethe food was not that great in the last couple of years.
ReplyDeleteSave the Robots was a block farther south, actually.
ReplyDeleteThis SUCKS! Max is amazing!! I just ate there tonight and my friend sent this article over to me. So sad to see it go!
ReplyDeleteI've been in love with their lasagna for the past 5 years. So sad to see them leave the neighborhood!
ReplyDelete