Wednesday, March 13, 2024

1 year after building fire, A&C Kitchen grandly reopens on Avenue C

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Great news for fans of A&C Kitchen — the longtime quick-serve and affordable Chinese restaurant reopened yesterday at 136 Avenue C after more than a year on the sidelines. (H/T Ryan John Lee for the first report.)

Mr. Li, who has owned the business for 30-plus years, was happy to see many returning customers...
It had been a rough 13 months here. 

On Feb. 27, 2023, a two-alarm fire broke out behind the building between Eighth Street and Ninth Street. Initial reports blamed a "lit object" discarded from a window down to the courtyard. 

The fire destroyed a ground-floor apartment. A&C Kitchen sustained some water damage — mostly in its basement. 

However, as we understand it, the gas was shut off as a precaution, and it took some time (and red-tape cutting) to get all the proper approvals in place ... and the various inspections.
We've mentioned this before: One of the original chefs from Dojo works here, and the menu includes such old favorites as the hijiki tofu burger. 

Find the restaurant's website here. For phone orders: (212) 677-8112. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 
at

3 comments:

  1. DuchessofNYCMarch 13, 2024 at 11:27 AM

    Yay, I heard it was an ebike--not belonging to A&C--that shut them down, but glad they are open. And shame on NYC for taking so long...

    ReplyDelete
  2. OlympiasEpiriotMarch 13, 2024 at 2:29 PM

    Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ACKitchenLESMarch 29, 2024 at 4:08 PM

    Hello to everyone who reads this comment.

    This is Mr. Lee's son commenting to just shed some light on the fire/circumstances.

    So on the 27th of February 2023, a 2 alarm fire broke out in the back area behind the restaurant. This just so happened to be on the day where paper recycling would occur in the evening so there were recyclables organized to take out. When reviewing our cameras, it looks like a cigarette butt was thrown outside of an adjacent building's window and into their ground floor. Something on the adjacent side caught fire and spread to the back of A&C Kitchen. The fire spread fast and destroyed anything we had back there.

    The more scary part was that Mrs. Lee (my mother) had just been in the restaurant 15 minutes before to do some prep work.

    We are back open as of March 2024 and hope to see & serve the community again. Wish everyone the best as well!
    ~Vincent

    ReplyDelete

Your remarks and lively debates are welcome, whether supportive or critical of the views herein. Your articulate, well-informed remarks that are relevant to an article are welcome.

However, commentary that is intended to "flame" or attack, that contains violence, racist comments and potential libel will not be published. Facts are helpful.

If you'd like to make personal attacks and libelous claims against people and businesses, then you may do so on your own social media accounts. Also, comments predicting when a new business will close ("I give it six weeks") will not be approved.