Monday, June 11, 2018

Silky Kitchen set for 13th Street



A new restaurant is coming to 137 E. 13th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

The owners are on tonight's CB3-SLA committee agenda for a new beer-wine license. However, given the method of operation and the fact that the owners agreed to CB3's stipulations, this item will not be heard in front of the committee.

There's not much information on the applicant's questionnaire posted on the CB3 website (PDF here) other than the name — Silky Kitchen.

Silky Kitchen's method of operation is described as a "Chinese food restaurant." Their hours will be 9 a.m. to midnight daily.

The space was previously home to Mandolino Pizzeria, which closed in March after 14 months in business.

6 comments:

  1. This is a very weird location. You have to be savvy to make it work. Silky, are you up to the challenge?

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  2. Besides the difficult location, there have been an unprecedented number of Chinese restaurants opening up along 2nd and 3rd Aves. How much competition can they take? Szechuan Hot Kitchen has just changed their well regarded Szechuan menu to exclusively hot pot at night, the hot pot restaurant diagonal to it now going through their 3rd reiteration in 2 years...and there are two adjacent Chinese restaurants at 12th (?) St and 2nd Ave. Will being one block west serve a different group of diners??

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  3. The lack of business success in this location is a mystery to me, given that this is right next door to a huge NYU dorm, and across the street from a condo building.

    I realize this location doesn't get a lot of foot traffic, but I'd think the dorm residents alone would keep it going.

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  4. Interesting that the new Silky Kitchen will open at 9AM. Does this indicate congee for breakfast, dim sum for lunch? A breakfast menu would set it apart from the other nearby Chinese restaurants and perhaps appeal to the dorm population.

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  5. This seems like a very inexperienced restaurant owner. The application shows 38 seats, open 9AM-12AM 7 days a week but only 4-5 employees. Are they putting in 16 hour days (including prep time) 7 days a week? How can a restaurant operate with these hours and number of patrons with only 4-5 employees? Maybe they aren't counting owner and family members???

    ReplyDelete
  6. I see active yelp reviews on this place already and of course, all '5 stars'...

    ReplyDelete

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