[Photo by Michael Seto]
Oh, just catching up to this love-piece on the great Stage Restaurant at Fork in the Road from Thursday.
From Why Stage Restaurant Might Be the Best Diner in NYC:
Mid-afternoon, Roman Diakun, proprietor of the East Village's Stage Restaurant (128 Second Avenue, 212-473-8614), walks down from his apartment above to check in on his customers and items being prepped for dinner. Raised in Poland via Ukraine, Roman has owned the restaurant since 1980, and over the decades, he has seen the East Village become home to David Schwimmer's townhouse, green juice bars, and Momofuku. This city is still full of diners, and Stage remains one of the greatest.
Wooden siding and framed reviews from the early 1990's cover the walls at the Stage, and there's no bathroom here. There are also no tables, just one long, Formica-topped counter running the length of the narrow restaurant where first timers mingle with locals, Eastern Europeans, old-school East Village-beatniks, and hipster urban professionals. No one gets special treatment here. As a friend said, it's like a clubhouse with an open admission policy — all you need to do is walk in.
As we first reported, the building here just south of St. Mark's Place that houses the Stage was sold to Icon Realty last fall. Per Fork in the Road on this development: "Roman says the restaurant's future is uncertain, but it's got at least a few more good years left on the lease."
Back in October, we heard that the Stage had six years remaining on their lease.
Previously on EV Grieve:
An appreciation: Breakfast at Stage
Troubling talk about 128 Second Ave, and the long-term future of the Stage
7 comments:
"No one gets special treatment here."
I have to disagree - everyone gets special treatment! Best place in the city, or anywhere.
Gotta agree with Goggla. First time I stepped in here, I ordered some measly eggs and sausage to go and I was given VIP treatment. While I waited for my order I browsed the menu and the proprietor proudly talked up the scratch-made food. I asked a harmless little question about the borscht and the guy shoves a cup of it in front of me--"You wanna try? Here try some!" Really good people and not the fawning, phony cheerful kind.
One of my fave places in the EV, especially since so many have been lost to the tidal wave of gentrification. I love their cheeseburgers.
The Stage? THE BEST! This place ALWAYS puts me in a good mood.
If I ate food I would go here.
I'm willing to give them a second chance, but the first time I went there, I wasn't impressed. I have high standards for stuffed cabbage, and theirs wasn't so good. You wanna know where you can get great stuffed cabbage? Cleveland!
Thanks to the Stage I now prefer grits with my breakfast to potatoes. Try the white borsch with egg!
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