[Reader photo from last week]
As a follow-up to our post from yesterday, Empire Biscuit owner Jonathan Price (he recently bought out his partner Yonadav Tsuna, who moved to the West Coast) assured us in an email yesterday that the quick-serve restaurant at 198 Avenue A is just taking a break for parts of this month.
"It's a slow time of year," he said. "We're doing some housekeeping. We refinished the floors in the kitchen Tuesday, for example. It's been over two years and there's just a lot of maintenance to do."
The restaurant has posted two "closed for brief winter break" signs on the front door so far this month.
Starting tonight, EB will be open Thursday night through Sunday night during January here between East 12th Street and East 13th Street.
As for the Empire Biscuit website that was offline, the domain issue is being resolved and they should be back live soon... online and behind the counter.
Previously on EV Grieve:
What's going on at Empire Biscuit?
They've always had this strangely cavalier attitude about closing. They close for anniversaries, they close because "guests" pull their alarm, they probably close if the owner has the sniffles that day. I have never understood what is keeping this place afloat because it just doesn't seem to be run like, ya know, a serious business.
ReplyDeleteUnlike folks from the previous thread, though, I like the doors. I don't know if they are uninviting (I would never eat there regardless for many reasons), but the doors are pretty, IMO.
So the co-founder of the Empire Biscuit empire left last year to move to San Francisco and take a job at Twitter as an analyst? As much as I like Twitter, they are in bad shape too, their stock is cratering and they may soon be a takeover target by Apple or Facebook. There is a lot more to this story than I thought.
ReplyDeleteI love Twitter. I hope they can get it together. Maybe an in house biscuit maker is their Hail Mary?
ReplyDeleteIt all sounds likely and I do hope they reopen, this place is preferred over a chain store, sports bar or real-estate office. I do not walk around the neighborhood after midnight so I don't know if "we serve drunks" idea has worked out for them or not.
ReplyDeleteI hope they drop the look we're so cool we serve drunks routine. It is offensive that they even have the word on their window.
ReplyDeleteShort attention span all around?. owners, customers, moving on. Good bye. May your next venture be bigger and brighter, and may you learn from your mistakes.
ReplyDeleteThe biscuit trend did not outlive the cupcake trend how sad. Now it's between cupcakes and Acai bowls.
ReplyDeleteAs a long time east village resident, I just want to give them a sincere, "Go Fuck Yourself"
ReplyDeleteGeez Louise. What's with all the negative comments? Perhaps their business model will become stronger and better. It's a new year. Be positive.
ReplyDeleteTheir "business model" involves attracting drunk people who want to stuff their faces late at night. Perhaps if they were a diner the model would work a little bit better.
ReplyDeleteSolid point anon 7:50. Booths, waited tables, and more menu options would be cool. A southern diner.
ReplyDeleteI wish they would add some seating and a few more items like soups and other beverages to the menu. Cater to the people who live and work here. You have potential regular customers all around you, but you thought it would be cool to serve what you call the drunks. Also, the wood interior is nice, but that big wooden door isn't exactly inviting. It blocks the view inside. It might work for a more exclusive place, but this is a biscuit shop! It should be warm and inviting.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for the partner left holding the bag after the other guy jumped ship so early in the run of this business. It's not easy being left to handle everything on your own when you thought you were going to be running the show with someone else.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, the last man standing will seek and listen to feedback from people who live in the neighborhood about how to make the business appealing to us. They are going to have a tough time surviving much longer if they don't make big changes fast.
I love this place. Great to order breakfast from early in the morning. Hope they're back soon.
ReplyDelete