Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
And then there was one.
After decades of aggressive hosts trying to entice diners into their establishments with twinkling Christmas and chili pepper lights and promises of superior food, the upstairs-downstairs block of Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants at 93 First Ave. is down to one.
While Milon closed in December 2020 after nearly 40 years in business, next-door neighbor Panna II Garden took over the space in early 2021 (see below) without switching the previous tenant's sign.
It was business as usual, with groups coming in for various celebrations amid the lights and over-the-top decor (this with some pretty mediocre-to-average food and spotty service).
The Panna II maître d' on duty Friday evening told us they stopped using the adjacent dining room last month.
"No business," he said.
The Milon space has been gutted (thanks to Blake Farber for the following two pics) ...
... and workers bagged up the lights that had lit up thousands of Instagram posts to throw away...
Royal Bangladesh, which opened on the lower level in 1978, closed in the late spring of 2022. An unlicensed smoke shop briefly occupied one of the storefronts on the lower level.
While Milon and Panna II had been catering to the Instagram crowd in recent years, some locals still found the BYOB restaurants a familiar comfort on evenings away from the weekends.
This article at 6sqft has a nice recap of the restaurants here; Eater, too. (A photo of the glory days is below via 6sqft.)
The number of Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants along the so-called Curry Row or Little India here and around the corner on Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue has been dwindling in recent years. As many as 27 establishments were clustered on the block in the 1990s; today, there are two on Sixth Street.
Economics and competition certainly played a part ... and, in recent years, we've seen new buzzy options, such as from the Unapologetic Foods team (Rowdy Rooster and Dhamaka, with two more concepts on the way)... and higher-end experiences like Bungalow at 24 First Ave., which opened in March and recently received three stars from the Times, and Jazba on Second Avenue and 13th Street.
On Friday night at Panna II, the lone maître d' said business has been slow.
11 comments:
This imagery is haunting.
The 3 stars for Bungalow will forever come with an asterisk, as it was given by an amateur and biased critic.
Sad.
This is just tragic. But at least we still have Panna.
Reading this after moving from the City and I am so glad to have experienced this odd and fantastic delight. Dammit.
How is an established food writer for the New York Times an amateur?
i just walked by a new modern but authentic looking Indian restaurant that seemed like it just opened on Avenue A between 12th and 13th
So sad! This is a fav for my friend group.
Milon. Our home away from home. Happy birthday to you! A great place. Loved the chef. Sad.
I went to Milon for my entire life. My family would go on special occasions and I'd go and order a lot of the fantastic appetizers. Going in, you had loyalty to ONE of those spots... all the guys would be like "come in come on in" and you'd be like.. nah I'm going to my spot. Mine was Milon.. when it closed it was like a part of the city packed up and left.
Milon was an institution and I'll miss it so much. Just don't go on a friday or saturday haha.
We were a Royal Bangladesh family. Still miss them! I've become a customer of Sathi up on 3rd which is consistently delicious but a bit pricy. I'm looking forward to trying out Ishq and Bungalow (the latter of which seems more like a special occasion spot, buy looks beautiful!)
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