More details on 2 new fast-casual Indian restaurants from the owners of the Masalawala

Back on June 23, we reported that restaurateurs Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya of the Masalawala fame were opening a quick-serve establishment at 149 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. 

The restaurateurs, who also operate Adda and Dhamaka, apparently have big designs on fast-casual Indian food.

As the Times reports, Mazumdar and Pandya are opening two spots in the East Village.

The first of the team's fast-casual restaurants, the fried chicken-centric Rowdy Rooster, opens in August on First Avenue and Ninth Street. Mr. Pandya is studying the numerous Indian iterations of fried chicken, from pakoras to Chicken 65, a spicy snack that supposedly originated in a hotel in Chennai. 

A month later comes Kebabwala, on Second Avenue and Fifth Street, which will focus on classic kebab preparations like chicken tikka and seekh kebabs.

Kebabwala will be going into 82 Second Ave., which has seen several restaurants come and go through the years, including 7 Spices and Reyna Exotic Turkish Cuisine. The owners are expecting a fall opening.

As for 149 First Avenue, which will house Rowdy Rooster, the storefront has been vacant since Afandi Grill closed after 13 months in October 2019. And several years earlier, This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef roamed the space until March 2014.

In April, Mazumdar and Pandya decided not to renew the lease for the Masalawala, bringing an end to its 10-year run just below Houston at 179 Essex St., as Eater first reported. 

Photos by Steven

East Village represented on this list of the city's worst landlords

[EVG file photo of 149 First Ave.]

The Village Voice released its list of the worst NYC landlords yesterday.

Coming in at No. 10: 149 Associates LLC. As we first reported in August, the landlord sent notices telling residents that they were losing their lease because the owners probably needed to tear down the building.

The only violation on file with the Department of Buildings was a failure to file an annual boiler inspection report from 2012. Probably not worth tearing the building down for... Meanwhile, the residents of the building between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street banded together and worked with various housing advocates to fight the evictions.

And there is a landlord who needs no introduction at No. 8: Steve Croman.

Per the Voice:

Over the years, tenants claim, he's initiated pointless lawsuits, ignored requests for repairs, and flat-out refused to renew leases, all in an effort to drive them out of their rent-stabilized units. If Croman had a mustache, he would have twirled it throughout – but what he lacks in diabolical facial hair, he makes up for in henchmen.

However, neither of these East Village property owners made the Public Advocate's list of the worst landlords in New York City.

149 First Ave. landlord told to make building 'safe immediately'

[EVG file photo]

Back in early August, the landlord (Lee Odell, c/o 149 Associates, LLC) sent tenants of 149 First Ave. a "notice of non-renewal and vacate request."

To refresh your memory, according to the letter:

"We have been advised by our engineer that the building has serious deterioration issues and has to be rebuilt and most probably demolished.

As a matter of safety, we have to vacate all the apartments in the building.

Please do not take longer than 90 days to leave. Thank you."

The only violation on file with the Department of Buildings was a failure to file an annual boiler inspection report from 2012.

Meanwhile, the residents of the building between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street banded together and worked with various housing advocates to fight the evictions.

On Friday, the city issued the following "Notice of Violation and Hearing."


[Click on image to enlarge]

Visiting conditions observed include "Failure to Maintain Building in a Code Compliant Manner."

And the city's remedy for the landlord: "Make safe immediately — repair and maintain."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Landlord tells residents of 149 First Ave. that they need to vacate ahead of demolition

1st Avenue residents meeting tonight to discuss mass eviction notice

1st Avenue residents meeting tonight to discuss mass eviction notice

As we reported last week, all tenants (and all rent stabilized) at 149 First Ave. received a letter from the landlord — a "notice of non-renewal and vacate request."

The letter read in part:

I'm truly sorry to tell you that we will not be renewing your lease. We have been advised by our engineer that the building has serious deterioration issues and has to be rebuilt and most probably demolished. As a matter of safety, we have to vacate all the apartments in the building. The building will not be habitable during the construction phase. Please do not take longer than 90 days to leave. Thank you.

And it didn't matter how long the tenant had left on his or her lease. Everyone was told to leave.

"After some understandable initial panic, it's clear that residents here are not ready to start packing their bags," one tenant told us.

On the contrary, the residents are said to be banding together to fight this. Tonight, the residents will be meeting to discuss the recent events that have transpired here just north of East Ninth Street. (Also, given tonight's forecast of rain, the tenant meeting is being moved from the building's courtyard to next door at My Little Village Postal Store, who a tenant says were kind enough to agree to stay late and donate the space for the meeting.)

To date, there aren't any permits on file at the Department of Buildings for a renovation or demolition at No. 149.

The tenant also said that everyone in the building received letters from the landlord telling them about $1,900-$2,000 studios available to them on East Sixth Street.



Word is none of the tenants have taken the landlord up on this generous offer.

Lastly, WPIX picked up on the story last Friday. They took a copy of the landlord's letter to Alan J. Goldberg, "an expert in landlord-tenant law."

"First of all it sounds like it’s clear harassment to me," Goldberg told WPIX. "Any rent-stabilized tenant in New York City had the right to remain in their apartment unless they are ordered out by court after a trial or unless there is a vacate order by the Department of Buildings or Department of Housing Preservation and Development."



Previously on EV Grieve:
Landlord tells residents of 149 First Ave. that they need to vacate ahead of demolition

Landlord tells residents of 149 First Ave. that they need to vacate ahead of demolition

There's a lot of drama unfolding at 149 First Ave. just north of East Ninth Street.

All tenants (and all rent stabilized) received the following letter from the landlord this week — a "notice of non-renewal and vacate request."

"We have been advised by our engineer that the building has serious deterioration issues and has to be rebuilt and most probably demolished.

"As a matter of safety, we have to vacate all the apartments in the building."

And it doesn't matter how long the tenant has left on his or her lease — "please do not take longer than 90 days to leave. Thank you."

There's nothing on file with the DOB about either a gut renovation or probable demolition. The most serious recent infraction appears to be that the landlord failed to file an annual boiler inspection report for 2012.

It appears that tenants aren't ready to pack their bags. They are already organizing, as this notice on the front door shows.



Meanwhile, if the building is truly going to be gut renovated/condemned/demolished, etc., then the landlord likely not need bother trying to fill the vacated storefront, still on the market for $9,500 rent per month since This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef closed in March.

Updated 2:31
Now with an updated flyer showing the correct date for the meeting with tenants.