The retooled Virage reopened last night at Second Avenue and East Seventh Street. As you can see the place is now called Bar Virage… to match the name, the space now has a more bar-centric feel — the 20-plus-seat bar is now in the middle of the former dining room …
[Photo from late yesterday afternoon]
And there are changes on Virage's menu as well. While several of the restaurant's Middle-Eastern options (hummus, chicken kebab, etc.) remain, there are expanded offerings … such as lamb sliders with goat cheese, arugula and tomato served alongside fries ($14) and Medi tacos with homemade laffa bread and featuring chicken shawarma, shrimp or skirt steak ($12). The new menus are not online just yet.
The 14-year-old Virage closed for renovations on March 24, as we first reported.
Interesting that they felt the need to turn the dining room into a bar, since the place was always busy on the weekends...packed with diners.
ReplyDeleteGuess it helps their weekday business!
nimble smart move, I like it. Hope they do well.
ReplyDeleteEverybody on the count of 3 . 2 . 1 . WOO
ReplyDeleteLike I said.
ReplyDeleteThey have a full liquor license, and now they'll be selling more and profiting on that. The weekend brunchers were only spending <$20 per head and spending lots of time at Virage without ordering anything else. Yes they were still making $, but not as much as by concentrating on selling alcohol with a high table turnaround. Such is the nature of today's EV.
Perhaps this is the beginning of a trend, there's no money to be made selling food so just add some bar stools, open bottles and pour your way to success. Of course nothing negative could ever come of having more bars in the EV.
ReplyDeleteIf they extended the size of their bar seating they would be in violation with the State Liquor Authority and CB 3. Someone should call it in.
ReplyDeleteWas there no board meeting about this?? Change of name/seating/use??? What the heck?
ReplyDeleteA 20-seat bar? That's more seating than their previous bar had!
ReplyDeleteIt's SO much less effort to serve drinks than to prepare & serve food. Just drop all pretense, Virage, and go for the drunk crowd that doesn't know or care about food. That's what a BAR is: put some salted nuts on the tables and you're good to go.
ReplyDeleteInteresting approach. In the end, it probably won't boost their liquor sales by much since high volume drinkers don't tend to do that in restaurants. But I'm sure even the littlest bit helps. Maybe they will attract more casual diners at the bar who just want a snack and not a full meal too.
ReplyDeleteJust so long as they didn't fire the bitchy queen servers...
ReplyDeleteThe huge new bar juts out into the former dining room so the whole place now centers around alcohol. Unfortunately the focus on alcohol and communal type bar seating is the new trend. Jam them in and get them drunk fast. I don't think they can add enough AA meetings to keep up with all the new binge drinking alcoholics in this city. Can't wait to see what kind of business they do during SantaCon. Food? You wanted food? Who needs to eat food when you can get all your calories out of a bottle?
ReplyDelete...then there is the bit about even moderate drinkers becoming candidates for dementia later in life... wow, tune in fifty years from now.
ReplyDeleteIf Virage is now just another "drunk-ateria" in the EV, why would anyone go there to have a nice meal? It makes no sense for Virage to serve "real food".
ReplyDeleteFor those that enjoyed Virage prior to their "bar" incarnation, then support them in their effort to stay afloat by continuing to eat and drink there. I liked Virage as it was, too, and because I wish for them to stay in business, I will continue to patronize them. Their focus is still their food, and the new menu items are delicious, as are the new cocktail recipes. If you've visited on a Saturday, it is not the typical drunk EV crowd; it is still many of the same patrons, a very low-key and positive vibe. So stop judging, and go enjoy a lamb taco and a brooklyn fizz at Bar Virage.
ReplyDelete