Friday, February 10, 2023

Offside Tavern shapes up on Avenue A and 6th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Renovations continue on the NE corner of Avenue A and Sixth Street, where a new outpost of Offside Tavern is expected to open in the months ahead here at 94 Avenue A. (First noted here. Comments from readers who had been to the original OT were positive.)

We spotted owner Nick Costa out front painting the exterior of the highly-tagged storefront...
This is a new iteration of Offside, which had a three-year run at 137 W. 14th St. until the pandemic-related PAUSE of March 2020. 

During the NHL season, OT was a hockey bar — specifically for fans of the New York Islanders. The place made enough of an impression that when the Islanders opened UBS Arena in late 2021, the new venue included an Offside Tavern tribute bar located in Section 217.

Costa said that they hope to debut on A in a few months — as soon as the liquor license arrives... and they hire and train new staff. 

Here's a look inside the space... where there are multiple rooms, including one for a bar and another area (along the Sixth Street side) with a communal table... not to mention multiple TV sets for watching the Islanders — or whatever happens to be in season...
August Laura had a brief run here, opening in October 2019 ... then a haphazard schedule during the pandemic before finally shutting down in December 2021.

August Laura took over the space from what some people considered an East Village institution — Sidewalk, the restaurant bar and live music venue (home of the Antifolk Festival) that closed in February 2019 after 34 years.

Pini Milstein, who retired, was the principal owner of the building and the operator of the Sidewalk. According to public records, Penn South Capital paid $9.6 million for the property in March 2019. The building's new owners added a one-floor extension here in 2020.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not opening for a few months and the owner went through the effort to paint over all the terrible tags? Love this guy and will definitely spend some money there when they do open

noble neolani said...

BRO heaven, I'll walk on the west side of A going forward.

Anonymous said...

A sports bar? Ugh.

Anonymous said...

Looks great! Looking forward to their opening!

Anonymous said...

Noble must be a Rangers fan.

Anonymous said...

It is a weird location for islanders fans

Neighbor said...

Random coincidence but the new owners of 6 Avenue B were the owners of this building that did the added floors

Anonymous said...

The new owners of 6 Avenue B also own 137 West 14th St, where The original Offside Tavern was located.

Anonymous said...

You actually leave your house Noble?

Jill W said...

Speaking of sports bars, has anyone seen the new venture in the old Esperanto place? Ugh. I used to live on that block, and I feel so sorry for residents there now. Neither place sounds like my cup of tea or what I wish we could manifest.

Anonymous said...

Islanders bar big difference