Hi-Collar, the Japanese cafe offering coffee and sandwiches by day and beer and sake in the evening, debuted in its new, larger home at 231 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue this past Friday.
Here's more about Bon Yagi's spot — part of the T.I.C. Restaurant group — via an Eater profile a few years back:
[E]spresso drinks are not pulled here. Instead the bar is dressed like a chemistry lab, with rows of coffee siphons, AeroPresses, and Hario V60 ceramic coffee drippers at the ready to make liquid magic.
Hi-Collar is, by Japanese standards, what's called a kissaten, a traditional Japanese coffee and tea house that also sells Japanese-American breakfast, sweets, and light lunch fare, usually including some sandwiches and even a pasta dish or two.
The move here takes over the East Village outpost of T.I.C.'s Sakagura.
The previous location of Hi-Collar on 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue closed two weeks ago ahead of the move... they opened here in the summer of 2013.
I remember when this address housed, for many years, the wonderful Italian restaurant, Col Legno. I still miss Col Legno!
ReplyDeleteCol Legno had a glass front, which made it very airy and inviting, whereas every other establishment that's opened there since then has had a heavy, dark, and closed-in (and frankly, claustrophobic-looking) facade. None of the new iterations has felt welcoming to me.
There were and still are too many faux Italian restaurants in the neighborhood. We love our Little Tokyo here
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