Unapologetic Foods has moved on from 82 2nd Ave. for its kebab house concept

A for lease sign arrived at 82 Second Ave. on Monday. 

This is newsy for what isn't going to be opening here: The space was to be the home of Kebabwala, an Indian kebab house from the Unapologetic Foods team. 

Apparently after all these years (news of this dates to 2021), founders Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya decided to move on. 

An Unapologetic rep told us: "It was going to take us another two years to get a gas line there since the building does not have a commercial gas line installed."

The rep said they currently don't have any other EV storefronts in mind for the kebab concept.

No. 82, located between Fourth Street and Fifth Street, has been vacant for at least 10 years and previously housed restaurants, including 7 Spices and Reyna Exotic Turkish Cuisine. (Now we know why the space has sat empty.)

Meanwhile, work continues at 107 First Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street where Unapologetic Foods is opening an outpost of its popular Adda Indian Canteen. (They were up for a liquor license last July.)

The great Huertas closed here in August 2023 after 10 years in service. The building had a new landlord, and chef Jonah Miller said he could not agree to "suitable terms" for a new lease. 

Reps for Paulie Gee's Slice Shop looked at this space in late 2023, although those plans did not move forward. 

Unapologetic Foods also operates the fried-chicken outpost, Rowdy Rooster, at 149 First Ave. at Ninth Street, and the Filipino restaurant Naks, 201 First Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

Chong Qing Xiao Mian II has closed on 2nd Avenue

And while we're here on this part of Second Avenue between Fourth Street and Fifth Street ... Chong Qing Xiao Mian II recently closed at No. 82.

The Chinese restaurant, which opened in late 2017, was a sibling to Chong Qing Xiao Mian on Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen.

This has been a tough spot for restaurants. Casualties in the past seven years are Express Thali ... Golden Crepes ... 7 Spices ... and
Reyna Exotic Turkish Cuisine.

Report: Former NYU student paralyzed in fall from 2nd Avenue building awarded $29 million in suit

A former NYU student, who was paralyzed after a fall from a fire escape at 82 Second Ave. in 2008, won a $29 million verdict in court this week.

The Post has the details:

Anastasia “Sasha” Klupchak, who was an honors student and varsity soccer player, is guaranteed the $29 million from the building owner East Village Associates after her lawyer struck an unusual deal with defense counsel on Monday.

Called a “high low settlement” the parties agreed that if the jury came back with a verdict that was less than $13 million, the defense would pay $13 million; but if they arrived at a figure over $29 million, the landlord would cough up $29 million.

The pre-verdict deal means the award cannot be appealed.

Klupchak, 22 at the time in 2008, was visiting a friend at 82 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. She and her friend went out on the fire escape to smoke around midnight. When attempting to re-enter the apartment, "she fell through an unguarded opening in the fire escape platform." The 12-foot fall left her paralyzed from the waist down.

The landlord at the time, East Village Associates, was found liable "because a 1949 law prohibited the type of fire escape on the building." One of the six jurors found that Klupchak​ ​"was at least partially responsible for her injuries." She had been drinking on the evening of her fall, and the landlord's attorney said "that she treated the fire escape like a balcony instead of an emergency escape route."

Her attorney, Thomas Moore, noted that there was no provision in the lease that said tenants couldn’t hang out on the fire escape. He also got the landlord, Bernard McElhone of East Village Associates, to admit under cross examination that “tens of thousands of New Yorkers regularly” hang out on the structures.

Klupchak, who went on to pursue a Ph.D. in film studies at Emory, now teaches at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta.

As for the building, Icon Realty bought the property from East Village Associates in January 2013 for $3.1 million. Icon flipped the building in late 2015 to a South Carolina-based investor for $10.9 million.

“She cried with joy and [thanks]. She just kept saying, ‘I don’t believe it'” https://t.co/5FQCDjZFz6

— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) March 8, 2017

Google Street View image from 2008