Here's some foodie action for this stretch of Avenue Woo. Grub Street is reporting that noted LES chef Wylie Dufresne (of wd~50 on Clinton Street) is opening a place at the former Plum Pizzeria at 157 Second Avenue.
Per Grub Street:
Alder will be a 50-seat pub. It will open in the former Plum Pizzeria space ... The kitchen will serve "modern casual food and well-crafted cocktails," according to a rep for the restaurant. The name Alder is the Old English analog for Ellery, the name of Dufresne's second daughter.
29 comments:
Will those cocktails be artisanal as well?
Why the snark? Wylie was born and raised on the LES and he and his father have been running small businesses there for over a decade. Get over yourselves.
Will he be incorporating wd-40 or liquid nitrogen into those well-crafted drinks?
Hey anon 301
His tasting menu at wd50 is $155 per person. That's hardly something for the working folk in that neighborhood. He caters to the wealthy and that's fine. Don't feed us this nonsense that he's some hero to the mom and pop shops of the Lower East Side. His popular restaurants helped drive them out of business.
great, there's nothing like this in the neighborhood...
He doesn't have to cater to the working folk. He has a local restaurant that can serve whatever the hell it wants at whatever price it wants. Driving the neighboring businesses out? Give me a break. No one says he's a hero, he's a person who's a native of the neighborhood and should be applauded for doing something unique. Pick your fucking enemies with better precision; you come off just as close-minded and ignorant as those your profess to despise.
@anon 3:28 Amen.
Ok, Marie Antoinettes, let them eat $155 tasting menu and $85+ wine/well-crafted cocktail pairings.
Catering to rich brats/frats and tourists isn't unique; it neither deserves nor requires applause. There's nowhere near enough snark in the article or comments for Anon 301 to be so offended on another's behalf. It's an overpriced "pub" in a market that's heavily saturated - we'll see how it does once it opens.
@Utherben
So, you're one of those guys that gets all frothy based on assumptions over facts. Fair enough...much like like the "overpriced pubs" you so apparently despise, the internet is saturated with them.
But, just as a counterpoint, here's what we know about legit local Wylie's new restaurant:
1) It's a pub
2) It will serve food and cocktails
Yet somehow you've made the leap to "rich brats/frats and tourists" and "overpriced," throwing in a heavy dose of snark (putting quotes around "pub" was gold, dude. Pure gold). Keep the hate alive, brah! Lord knows we need it.
Frankly, I enjoyed how he had the ingenuity to dig a tunnel in the wall behind the girlie poster.
"Clinton Fresh Food up and vanished like a fart in the wind!"
(too much?)
From the NY Magazine article:
"The chef, who started serving personal food with modernist and fine-dining tendencies almost ten years ago on Clinton Street (then crowded with bodegas and old neon), "
I think that says it all.
The theme of "modern casual food and well crafted cocktails" is not at all unique. In fact there are probably 50 or more such places in the east village alone. And your attitude of "he can charge whatever he wants!", while true, sounds incredibly shallow and obnoxious.
Sure he can charge whatever he wants, but those of us who would have to spend a day's pay at work to eat there don't have to applaud it. We can even complain about it here on EV grieve! (grieve, as in lament)
used to live around the corner from wd50. all those local business that got "pushed out"? drug fronts, not kidding, used to watch cops raid them on a weekly basis at one point.
This current trend in artisanal/upscale food in New York City and it's almost exclusive 20-something audience is representative of a generation that grew up constantly being told to not do drugs combined with an insane amount of self-entitlement. That's all there is too it. No grit, no balls, just alot of "give it to me, I deserve it".
@1156, thats such a weird statement, Im not even sure what it means, or if its backed up by any research etc. Certainly its an interesting generation, maybe the first to be raised by helicopter parents. Maybe this is a documented phenomenon, or maybe this is something people say on EV Grieve and Vanishing New York. Either way, it says something interesting about people. Maybe both ways. This is a big topic, and Im not a sociologist, but its still interesting.
Im always puzzled by your guys' ire for the local kids that hit it big, whether its Lady Gaga, or WD or whoever. I would think its even better if they keep some sort of identity to their roots, such as basing their restaurant there. Im always psyched for people I knew growing up going on to do something big, regardless of whether or not its something Im into.
wd50 is great, as is Wylie Dufresne. The crowd/ambiance when I've gone was awesome and this seems even more low-key than wd50. Could be a lot worse...
@Anon 5:55 clap.....clap....clap....clap....clap.clap.clap.clapclapclapclapclapclap!
I think that storefront is cursed for restaurants, none of them have survived there for long. I started watching the location when it was the Russian/French restaurant ("Cafe Russe?" not sure the name is correct). Anyway will be interesting to see if the new concept can surmount this curse.
Anyone who thinks local businesses have been driven off Clinton Street (or the surrounding streets) can't get down there too often. And by one restaurant?
I like Wylie, his dad, and the work they've done. And I'm an EV resident, not a rich brat/frat (is that a sausage?) or a tourist.
How dare he open a restaurant in the neighborhood he grew up in?! The outrage!! He's only been here for 30+ years!! RIP EV.
@Wilfrid
Agreed, WD50 doesnt even really compete with any other business. It isnt food that anyone would eat regularly. If any restaurants on clinton drove off older businesses, its probably like Frankies 17 (RIP) and Clinton St Baking Co. and other restaurants that made better food than the drug fronts that were there before.
I'm happy that Wylie has been successful. Local boy doing well. I wish his fucking restaurants weren't so fucking expensive. How is that staying true to his Lower East Side roots? Did his family go out and treat him to $155 tasting menus as a boy?
Um, excuse me. You guys are all full of shit. Wylie was born in 1970 in Providence, Rhode Island, where he grew up. In 1992, Wylie completed a B.A. in philosophy at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
HOW IS THIS LOCAL LES?????? His PR people should at least know this.
Dufresne's moved to LES after leaving providence in 1977
Wikipedia has failed you. Born in Provi, most of his youth in NYC. College in Maine, back to NYC for Culinery School and work. Lives in Peter Cooper.
I mean staying true by locating his restaurant there.
I don't care if he was a founding member of the Fugs, his menu options are too expensive. 71 Clinton Fresh Food kicked off the Clinton Street dining gold rush. His arrival ushered in places like Frankie's 17 and Clinton St. Baking Company. I hope that you will look forward to paying $28 for a hamburger at his new place on 2nd Avenue. Then thank him for being such a good local boy who made good. Soon enough, you won't be able to afford to live here.
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