A noted chef is looking to serve "upscale modern Indian cuisine" at the current L'Apicio space on First Street in the Avalon Bowery Place complex between Second Avenue and the Bowery.
According to documents (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website for the March SLA meeting, chef Sujan Sarkar is applying for a new liquor license for the venture, which is currently unnamed.
The proposed hours are noon-midnight from Monday-Wednesday; noon to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday; and 11 a.m. to midnight on Sunday.
The bio that accompanies the questionnaire at the CB3 website notes that Sarkar is the chef partner at Ek Bar, "India's first Artisanal cocktail bar." He is also the chef of Rooh, a similar-sounding restaurant that just opened in San Francisco.
The questionnaire includes Rooh's menu, and states that this First Street restaurant will be similar. If that's the case, then here's more about Rooh via Eater San Francisco:
The culinary team includes a mix of professionally trained U.S. and Indian cooks, preparing dishes like foie gras pate with masala, pickled shallot, and taftan (a flatbread). Refreshingly, the menu is a healthy mix of both meat and vegetable-focused dishes, like a tandoori portobello mushroom served with polenta, morel crumble, and truffle.
The interior is a polished mix of rich blues and gold, giving off a serious lounge vibe — the group also owns nightclubs in India. The dining room can be split into more intimate semi-private areas with gold mesh curtains that hang from the high ceilings, while a long marble bar gives ample space for snacking and drinking.
As for L'Apicio, there isn't any word of a closing date just yet for the Italian restaurant via chef Gabe Thompson. Sarkar's questionnaire at the CB3 website notes that this is a "sale of assets." Notice about the CB3-SLA meeting on March 13 is posted outside L'Apico ...
L'Apicio opened in 2012. Here's what Pete Wells at The New York Times had to say about it in a generally positive review from December 2012: "L'Apicio can deliver a very enjoyable night out if you don't ask too much of it."
This large space with outdoor seating (capacity inside/outside is 266) was previously home for four years to the Bowery Wine Company.
After reading that write up from Eater I spontaneously prepared a little of my own artisanal gastric slurry which I warmed within my own mouth to a comforting 98.6 degrees.
ReplyDeleteFucking lotus eaters.
Good one.
DeleteUpscale East Side.
ReplyDeletefois gras masala? you've got to be kidding me. wouldn't expect any less from restaurant tenants to buildings like these though.
ReplyDeleteI give this place 4 months, tops.
ReplyDeleteThey want to "upscale" our nabe by moving in? Because we were living in such shitty conditions before, and they're going to transform us? Are we supposed to think they're noble? I fully understand that they're condescending to all of us who've lived here for longer than 2 years, so they can forget about getting any of my $$.
ReplyDeleteBUT: How, how, how have we *survived* without foie gras pate with masala (shove that foie gras you-know-where), "morel crumble" (WTF?), and a "serious lounge vibe". And, has Eater been taken over by the people who write real estate blurbs?
FYI, It's next to the Bowery Meat Company. http://www.bowerymeatcompany.com Not, the Bowery WINE Company.
ReplyDeleteBowery Meat Company is currently next door... however, Bowery Wine Company, an unrelated restaurant, was in the space that L'Apico is in now from 2007-2011...
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like another Babu Ji, and we saw how that went. I will stick with the small Indian restaurants up and down and near Sixth Street.
ReplyDeleteApparently these owners didn't get the memo: this is The Bowery, where dreams go to die. But the concept is the main stumbling point here. We just saw what happened to Babu Ji, not a pretty sight. But fois gras Indian? I've been to India a few times, I never saw anything like that. Traditional ans street Indian food is so amazing, and the range of cuisine is so vast that I'm not sure why it needs to be Westernized While in India I fell in love with spicy kati rolls, and the delicious ones they serve at Desi Galli are just fine with me.
ReplyDeletefois gras Indian recipe- duck liver with curry
ReplyDeleteIt's looking like the faux luxury bubble is going to pop soon.
While in India I fell in love with spicy kati rolls, and the delicious ones they serve at Desi Galli are just fine with me.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes! Desi Galli is a gem, as is NY Dosas, for true Indian flavors. (I threw up in my mouth a little when I read "foie gras masala.")
This all reminds me of the final scene of Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life" we are just one thin mint away from the end.
ReplyDeleteWhen the aristocrats all vom on each other? That's a good one.
Delete