Avant Garden reopens in new Avenue A home

Avant Garden is up and running at its new home, 95 Avenue A at Sixth Street.

As reported in March, Avant Garden was leaving its home of eight years around the corner at 130 E. Seventh St.

Ravi DeRossi, the owner of Overthrow Hospitality, told us that Avant Garden is one of the busiest restaurants in his plant-based portfolio and that they've outgrown the 28-seat Seventh Street space with a small electric kitchen.

On the second level of 95 Avenue A, Avant Garden now has double the space for diners and an expanded wine-spirits list. This corner building also houses Overthrow's Amor Y Amargo. The upstairs last hosted the pop-up concept Café de L’Enfer, an absinthe and champagne cocktail bar.

June 24 marked Avant Garden's last day on Second Street. (The address is on the rental market.)

After the relocation, multiple EVG readers noted the Department of Transportation posted a "Termination" notice on Avant Garden's curbside dining space on Seventh Street... dated July 5.

Michelin named Avant Garden one of NYC's five best vegetarian restaurants, including Overthrow's Cadence and Soda Club.

During the first months of the pandemic in 2020, Avant Garden provided free plant-based meals to anyone in need. 

Avant Garden is on the move

Avant Garden, considered the crown jewel of the Overthrow Hospitality plant-based portfolio, will be relocating from 130 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue in the months ahead.

"After eight years in business, Avant Garden is still one of our busiest restaurants at Overthrow Hospitality," Ravi DeRossi, the owner of Overthrow Hospitality, told us in an email. "The 28-seat space with its tiny electric kitchen just isn't able to meet the demand anymore so we will be moving into a new and bigger space."

No details just yet where the new Avant Garden will live ... or the exact timing. 

"We do not expect there to be any lapse at all between the closure of the current location and the opening of the new location," he said.

The listing (PDF here) at Meridian Capital Group notes a June 1 possession date. The asking rent is $8,500 a month.

Michelin named Avant Garden one of NYC's five-best vegetarian restaurants, a list that includes Overthrow's Cadence and Soda Club.

During the first months of the pandemic in 2020, Avant Garden provided free plant-based meals to anyone in need. 

Avant Garden continuing to offer free meals to those in need

[Image via @avantgardennyc]

As a reminder... Avant Garden is offering free plant-based meals to anyone in need ... this happens Wednesdays through Sundays, 4 to 9 p.m., here at 130 E. Seventh St. just west of Avenue A...



In March, Ravi DeRossi's East Village restaurants were giving out free lunches to NYC school kids.

Report: Ravi DeRossi is turning his empire meat-free, starting with Mother of Pearl on Avenue A

Ravi DeRossi has plans to make as many of his 15 bar-restaurants animal-free as possible, Eater reports.

Per Eater:

DeRossi feels strongly about the environmental impact of meat and restaurants, as well as the impact to animals, he says. Taking animal products out of his businesses is his way of helping. "If we're going to do something to help this planet, it needs to start," DeRossi tells Eater. "It needs to be me not just preaching, but me just doing it. I'm in the position to do it."

He'll start with Mother of Pearl, his tiki-Hawaiian-themed establishment on Avenue A and East Sixth Street. Starting on Sunday, MoP will unveil a new vegan menu featuring "Polynesian-inspired dishes, like coconut rolls with coconut miso butter and black lava salt; and green mango with tomato, jicama, crispy rice, and macadamia." The drink menu will also be revamped, eliminating any spirits that use animal products.

In other related news, DeRossi is expanding his vegan restaurant Avant Garden on East Seventh Street near Avenue A to Williamsburg. In addition, The Bourgeois Pig, which moved from East Seventh Street to the West Village early last year, will be converted into "a vegan wine and tapas bar called LadyBird," according to Eater.

Mother of Pearl image via

Avant Garden is now open on East 7th Street

[EVG file photo]

Team Ravi DeRossi (Death & Co., Cienfuegos, Proletariat, etc.) opened Avant Garden, their vegan restaurant/wine bar at 130 E. Seventh St., last night, per Eater.

The chef is Andrew D'Ambrosi, who ran the kitchen at DeRossi's Carroll Gardens seafood restaurant Bergen Hill.

As DeRossi told Eater back in the spring:

D'Ambrosi put a hen of the woods mushroom dish on the menu that DeRossi, who "always hated mushrooms," loved. That dish turned out to be vegan, and so from there DeRossi had the chef begin experimenting with other vegan dishes, offering them as specials at Bergen Hill. Two years later, they've pulled together a list of about 20 that will make up Avant Garden's vegan menu. Those include things like charred onion with chimichurri and seasoned breadcrumbs, and roasted carrots with orange, honey, pumpkin seeds and quinoa, as well as that hen of the woods dish.

Here's a look at their menu…





The opening of Avant Garden coincides with DeRossi's new nonprofit, BEAST (Benefits to End Animal Suffering Today), which will host regular fundraisers for animal rights organizations.

Avant Garden takes over the storefront here just west of Avenue A from Gingersnap's Organic, who decamped to the West Village in January.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Veggie friendly Avant Garden in the works for former Gingersnap's space on East 7th Street

Avant Garden signage now up on East 7th Street

The sign has arrived at 130 E. Seventh St. … where Team Ravi DeRossi (Death & Co., Cienfuegos, Proletariat, etc.) is opening an upscale vegan restaurant here just west of Avenue A.

DeRossi told Eater more about the project last month:

DeRossi says that this is something he's been wanting to do for 10 or 20 years, but finding a good vegan chef has always been the "biggest obstacle." Now, however, he's found that chef in Andrew D'Ambrosi, who currently runs the kitchen at DeRossi's Carroll Gardens seafood restaurant, Bergen Hill.

The way he tells it, D'Ambrosi put a hen of the woods mushroom dish on the menu that DeRossi, who "always hated mushrooms," loved. That dish turned out to be vegan, and so from there DeRossi had the chef begin experimenting with other vegan dishes, offering them as specials at Bergen Hill. Two years later, they've pulled together a list of about 20 that will make up Avant Garden's vegan menu. Those include things like charred onion with chimichurri and seasoned breadcrumbs, and roasted carrots with orange, honey, pumpkin seeds and quinoa, as well as that hen of the woods dish.

In addition to Avant Garden, DeRossi is launching a nonprofit, BEAST (Benefits to End Animal Suffering Today), which will host regular fundraisers for animal rights organizations, per Eater.

No word on an official opening date just yet.

As we first reported on May 5, Avant Garden takes over the storefront from Gingersnap's Organic, who decamped to the West Village in January.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Veggie friendly Avant Garden in the works for former Gingersnap's space on East 7th Street