Mother of Pearl and Honey Bee's close to make way for a larger Amor y Amargo on Avenue A

Changes are afoot at 95 Avenue A, East Village restaurateur Ravi DeRossi's complex of eating and dining establishments in the corner space on Sixth Street.

No. 95 housed three businesses: Honey Bee's, Amor y Amargo and Mother of Pearl. However, according to materials on file with Community Board 3, the spaces will be converted to accommodate a larger Amor y Amargo.

DeRossi is on CB3's SLA virtual docket tonight for the following changes at No. 95:

• Honey Bee's, Amor y Amargo and Mother of Pearl Room (Cien Fuegos LLC), 95 Ave A (op/alt/change method of operation: change current concepts of Honeybee's, a vegan Texas barbeque whiskey bar, and Mother of Pearl, a vegan tiki bar, to Amor y Amargo, a bitters bar).

A rep for Derossi Global confirmed the restructuring, and confirmed that Mother of Pearl and Honey Bee's have closed.



The expanded Amor y Amargo operation will now also include a full food menu.

Amor y Amargo debuted in 2011 with just a handful of seats, and quickly became celebrated as the country's first bitters-based bar.

Mother of Pearl opened here in July 2015, replacing another DeRossi venture, Gin Palace. Honey Bee's opened in May 2019 in the space that was Cienfuegos for 10 years.

DeRossi is known for switching up concepts in his restaurants either after a successful run or more quickly if the space doesn't pan out. In this case, the DeRossi rep said that the restructuring was "in response to COVID-19 and the new world we’re entering."

And 95 Avenue A is not the only DeRossi restaurant on tonight's CB3 agenda: He's changing the menu at Night Music:

• Night Music (Derossi Asia LLC), 111 E 7th St (b/alt/change method of operation: from a vegan Indian restaurant to a vegan Mexican restaurant)

Night Music, on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, opened last September.

At the beginning of the pandemic in NYC, Mother of Pearl distributed free school lunches during the week. DeRossi also distributed free vegan meals from Avant Garden on Seventh Street.

A concept revamp for the Cienfuegos space on Avenue A

Ravi DeRossi is changing concepts at Cienfuegos, his Cuban-inspired rum bar-restaurant upstairs that opened nine-plus years ago at 95 Avenue A and Sixth Street.

The new space will be Honeybee's, specializing in plant-based Texas BBQ and bourbon and rye.

"It's been almost 10 years since I opened Cienfuegos," DeRossi said in an email. "It's still one of my favorite places, but it's time for a revamp. I was either going to update the decor, menu, etc., or completely change the concept. In the end I decided it would be a lot more fun to change the concept."

Like his other restaurants — LadyBird and Avant Garden, among them — the menu will be all vegan. He's still finalizing the food-and-drinks lineup and design.

Honeybee's is named after his dog, whom DeRossi said was a big influence on him removing the meat and dairy items from the menus in his establishments. (DeRossi started going meat free in early 2016 and launched BEAST Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to ending animal cruelty.)

The change from Cienfuegos to Honeybee's is on the agenda at tonight's CB3-SLA meeting. You can find a PDF of the application at the CB3 website.

The corner space on Avenue A and Sixth Street also houses two other DeRossi operations — Mother of Pearl and Amor y Amargo.

Some walls for Mother of Pearl

[EVG photo from July]

Well, in case anyone was curious how Mother of Pearl was going to weather the cold-weather months without any walls here at East Sixth Street and Avenue A… the bar that opened in July is now apparently getting some…





Thanks to EVG reader Dale MacDonald for the photos!

Previously on EV Grieve:
The 'Postmodern Polynesian' of Mother of Pearl replacing Gin Palace on Avenue A

Mother of Pearl softly opens on Avenue A and East 6th Street (31 comments)

Mother of Pearl softly opens on Avenue A and East 6th Street

Several EVG readers have pointed out that the northwest corner of Avenue A and Sixth Street has a new look with the (soft) opening tonight of Mother of Pearl.

Owner Ravi Derossi's tiki-influenced bar replaces Gin Palace, one of the three bars (along with Cienfuegos and Amor y Amargo) that make up 95 Avenue A. The Gin Palace space was reportedly gutted during building repairs in late 2014 and early 2015.

Mother of Pearl officially opens tomorrow night. You can read previews of the place at Zagat and Eater.



Here is the menu via Eater...

Mother of Pearl

Previously on EV Grieve:
The 'Postmodern Polynesian' of Mother of Pearl replacing Gin Palace on Avenue A

95 Avenue A now free of construction netting and sidewalk bridge

Workers today removed the rest of the construction and sidewalk bridge that has encased 95 Avenue A for several months.

Apparently the structural repairs (sinking building???) here at East Sixth have been made.

During the rehab, Gin Palace, one of the three bars (along with Cienfuegos and Amor y Amargo) that make up the retail component of the building, closed for service last November.

As the Times reported last week, work gutted the Gin Palace interior. So co-owner Ravi Derossi is taking the opportunity to re-imagine the space, opening a "tiki-influenced" bar later next month called Mother of Pearl.

The 'Postmodern Polynesian' of Mother of Pearl replacing Gin Palace on Avenue A

Structural repairs are ongoing at 95 Avenue A at East Sixth Street.

During the rehab, Gin Palace, one of the three bars (along with Cienfuegos and Amor y Amargo) that make up the retail component of the building, closed for service last November.

Now, as the Times reports, the bar is getting an overhaul too.

Ravi Derossi, an owner, said construction on the building so completely gutted the interior of the bar that he decided to start over with a “tiki-influenced” bar called Mother of Pearl.

Hmm. And!

Mr. Derossi and [co-beverage director Thomas] Chadwick said they didn’t want Mother of Pearl to be pigeonholed as a tiki bar. “Postmodern Polynesian,” they called it.

Per Derossi, "The idea for this was like sitting in a fancy hotel in Hawaii or somewhere."

Mother of Pearl is expected to open in late May or early June.

Holding up 95 Avenue A

Just looking at the structural repairs underway at 95 Avenue A at East Sixth Street.

Ravi DeRossi told Eater last month that the building housing his bars Cienfuegos, Amor y Amargo and Gin Palace is sinking into the ground.

Gin Palace closed on Nov. 6 and is expected to be out of commission for at least two months. (The other two bars remain open.)

Looks like a pretty serious operation...



The repair costs are estimated at $100,000.