Peels closed for good on the Bowery on Jan. 22.A "casual pasta shop" called Bar Primi is on the way in the space at East Second Street from restaurateurs Andrew Carmellini, Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom, as Eater first reported.
The group goes before CB3's SLA licensing committee on Monday night for a new liquor license for the address. The paperwork (PDF!) that the applicants filed at the CB3 website ahead of that meeting provide a few scant details on what to expect… The proposed hours are 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. seven days a week. The paperwork shows 22 total tables, seating 94 people as well as two bars good for 41 seats. (They also plan to have an outdoor cafe, just like Peels.)
Hmm, what else… Bar Primi will employ between 50-60 people… and "management will be charged with the responsibility of operating a restaurant that does not disturb its neighbors."
Eater noted that if all goes well for the trio, then Bar Primi will open this summer.
8 comments:
I love Italian food ... but soon ALL restaurants will be Italian!
Peels was unique, and, I thought, well-patronized. One of those places I always meant to go ... now too late.
I'm all for more Italian in the neighborhood - as long as it's affordable. It's a shame we lost Max. There is still Paprika - excellent food, but prices have risen substantially.
It's beyond me why a plate of spaghetti should cost 2 digits.
- East Villager
Peels was a hipster disaster with terrible service and spotty food. Good riddance.
yawn. Too bad for Gemma.
@Anon. 1:08 - it shouldn't. But thanks to lack of commercial rent control and landlord ability to charge whatever they want, these places have to make their rent somehow...
I still miss the Crab Shack at this location. Live music and down to earth seafood. Not expecting that with these bozos. Just another overpriced venue thinking tourists will make their bank. Not bloody likely.
The retail business model is broken because so many of these foodie places are just trendy spots that quickly die off as soon as the top 5 percenters they cater to move on to the next hot thing. Look at 'inoteca empire which was very popular and yet has shut down four of its restaurant. You cant rely on rich people to stay loyal once the new fad comes along.
Mayor De Blasio is not exaggerating when he talks about a Tale of 2 cities: The top 5 percent account for 38% of all spending. Businesses that cater to the middle class are getting squeezed out as they are spending even lass.
The NY Times just did a landmark piece on how the middle class is disappearing and how this is killing retailers and restaurants nationwide:
The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just Ask the Business World.
"In Manhattan, the upscale clothing retailer Barneys will replace the bankrupt discounter Loehmann’s, whose Chelsea store closes in a few weeks. Across the country, Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants are struggling, while fine-dining chains like Capital Grille are thriving. And at General Electric, the increase in demand for high-end dishwashers and refrigerators dwarfs sales growth of mass-market models.
As politicians and pundits in Washington continue to spar over whether economic inequality is in fact deepening, in corporate America there really is no debate at all. The post-recession reality is that the customer base for businesses that appeal to the middle class is shrinking as the top tier pulls even further away.
"n 2012, the top 5 percent of earners were responsible for 38 percent of domestic consumption, up from 28 percent in 1995, the researchers found.
Even more striking, the current recovery has been driven almost entirely by the upper crust. Since 2009, the year the recession ended, inflation-adjusted spending by this top echelon has risen 17 percent, compared with just 1 percent among the bottom 95 percent.
More broadly, about 90 percent of the overall increase in inflation-adjusted consumption between 2009 and 2012 was generated by the top 20 percent of households in terms of income, according to the study, which was sponsored by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, a research group in New York."
see: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/business/the-middle-class-is-steadily-eroding-just-ask-the-business-world.html?_r=0
The bottom line is the middle/working class isn't spending,they are getting killed, and all the money and growth is either in the high end or in the mass market bargain-basement stores. This affluence is driven by the stock market, so watch out when it crashes again, there will be hell to pay.
I ate at Bar Primi last night as a Friends and Family guest. It was amazing. Once it opens, be sure to get the roast beef sandwich, the artichoke pasta, and the meatballs.
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