Showing posts with label Bali Kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bali Kitchen. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

New restaurants for this stretch of 4th Street

In late October we told you that Nón Lá Vietnamese Kitchen is coming soon to 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. A new sign now hangs over the doorway.

This venture is from Ronny Nguyen, who runs Sao Mai on First Avenue. We were told that his son will be operating Nón Lá. 

The space was home to Lui's Thai Food. As previously reported, chef-owner Pimnapa "Lek" Sunthatkolkarn had to retire her business after being hospitalized late in the summer.

Meanwhile... right next door... at the former Bali Kitchen space...
... new lettering on the door reads Village Cafe & Grill. There's a menu posted for the establishment at Seamless, and it's extensive, featuring everything from bagels to burritos to burgers... not to mention a variety of wraps, sandwiches and salads. Not sure who's behind the venture at this moment.

The excellent Bali Kitchen closed on Aug. 1 after business plummeted during the pandemic. The Indonesian restaurant opened in September 2017Owners Jazz Pasay and David Prettyman were hoping to continue a catering business as well as other pop-up ventures. 
 

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Bali Kitchen, officially closing today, will do a weekend service through August



Text and photos by Stacie Joy

Bali Kitchen is having its last official day of service today here at 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (Chef/owner Jazz Pasay recommends you that order online ahead of time.)

The penultimate day found the chef and his husband, David Prettyman, in the weeds with long lines of people waiting to get a last bowl of gado-gado or nasi goreng.



As previously reported, the Indonesian restaurant is closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I asked Jazz and David about the situation and their future plans.


[Jazz & David]

Jazz says that "a large percentage of our business is catering for offices, hundreds of people for lunches and events, and since the offices are closed [due to COVID-19] there is no work. Also, there are no tourists — we get a lot of Indonesian tourists, and international students, and so business has dried up."

There is some hope though if you can’t make it in today for a meal, as Jazz is creating a limited-menu weekend run, just for August (the lease is up at the end of this month). Bali Kitchen will be open Saturdays and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a new weekly menu.

Also in the works: a potential pop-up restaurant concept focusing on seafood with Essex Market’s Marketline-based southeast Asian dessert stall Moon Man and Sea Monster Indonesian grilled seafood pop-up partner Nigel Sielegar.


[Jazz and Sielegar]

Both Jazz and Nigel talked with me about the importance of raising awareness about Indonesian food and culture, and speculated about why Indonesian food isn’t widely known.


[Jazz with neighbor Lek of Lui’s Thai Food]

In the interim, Jazz and David plan to keep the catering business open and have also been tossing around the idea of mobile food delivery. You can keep tabs on what Bali Kitchen is up to on Instagram.



Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Bali Kitchen closes on Aug. 1: 'COVID-19 was too much for us'


[Photo from November 2018 by Stacie Joy]

Bali Kitchen, one of the neighborhood's most unique and affordable small restaurants, will close after service on Aug. 1.

Owners David Prettyman and Jazz P. Souisay shared the news via email:

COVID-19 was too much for us and we have decided to close Bali Kitchen.

Sadly, Bali Kitchen will close its doors on Saturday, August 1. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers for your support over the past three years. You still have three weeks to get one last serving of Beef Rendang, Nasi Goreng or Tofu Betutu. We hope you will come see us before we close. Terima kasih banyak!

The Indonesian restaurant on Fourth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue opened in September 2017.

On top of the COVID-19-related closure, Bali Kitchen suffered other setbacks. On the day they were set to reopen in May, someone tossed a brick through their front window. Someone also smashed into the space during the rash of break-ins on the night of May 31

They are open for takeout and delivery Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. You can order in advance via the BK website. You can also call them at (646) 678-4784.



Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Brick through the front door delays Bali Kitchen's reopening by a day



Bali Kitchen on Fourth Street was set to reopen yesterday for takeout and delivery — until owners David Prettyman and Jazz P. Souisay learned that someone threw a brick through their front door window Thursday night.

As they report: "Fortunately, nothing of value was taken."

They will now be open today at 11:30 a.m. here at 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. You can order their Indonesian cuisine in advance via the BK website. You can also be old school and call them at (646) 678-4784.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

[Updated] Bali Kitchen is back in action, but only on Saturdays and Sundays


[Reader photo from Saturday]

Several EVG readers happily noted that Bali Kitchen reopened on Saturday after a months-long renovation here at 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

No word at the moment about what upgrades were made at the quick-serve restaurant serving Indonesian cuisine.

In any event, the readers who shared the news were just glad that Bali Kitchen was back open.

Updated 3/11

Turns out that Bali Kitchen is only open on Saturday and Sunday now. Per the comments:

Hi everyone, I am a friend of the Bali Kitchen owners, Jazz and David. Jazz told me that Bali Kitchen is starting to open on Saturday and Sunday for now with a limited menu after they did some renovation back in February. During weekdays, Bali Kitchen offers catering for office or private parties. They noticed their walk-in traffic is only busy on the weekends, while their catering business is busy during weekdays so they pivoted their business model a little bit. Come support them on the weekends if you enjoy their food and can make it!

Their weekend hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street

Friday, November 16, 2018

A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street



Text and photos by Stacie Joy

When I meet up with David Prettyman and Jazz P. Souisay, the co-owners of Bali Kitchen, it’s late on a weekday night, an hour or two from closing time.

The two have just arrived back at the restaurant — 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue — from church, and we take advantage of a brief quiet moment to sit and talk about Indonesian food and culture.


[Prettyman and Souisay]

The couple, who have been together for more than 26 years, enjoy offering a primer on Indonesian food. When they first opened in September 2017, their initial customers were mostly people who’d been to Bali or were Dutch (there’s a lot of Indonesian food in the Netherlands), but now it’s repeat customers, those looking for a taste of home, and diners who are curious about Indonesian cuisine.









The most popular dishes here are nasi goreng (a fried rice with egg, tofu or chicken dish made with cabbage, shallots and candlenuts, and served with a mango/pineapple pickle relish) and rendang jamur (beef or mushroom dish with coconut milk and lemongrass over jasmine rice). The house special is nasi campur bali (their version of rijstaffel with sate lilit, betutu chicken/tofu, lawar, sambal matah, tempeh, boiled egg, peanuts, jasmine rice and tempeh crackers and served with sambal, a Balinese hot sauce).




[Nasi Goring]


[Nasi Campur Bali]

Almost everything on the menu can be made vegan or vegetarian, something Souisay says he discovered he’d need to do the month the restaurant opened following customer requests. One popular Balinese dish, suckling pig, is not on the menu. There isn't any pork at Bali Kitchen and all the meat they use is Halal.



There are plans for seasonal changes in the menu. Some heartier meals will replace the salads and a new soup is in the works for the colder months.

Prettyman and Souisay are also committed to environmental causes, using eco-friendly packaging materials that are compostable. Their space doesn't have a microwave and they both spoke about healthy food and alternatives to deep-frying: steaming, broiling and baking items.

They also want to promote Indonesian culture, hospitality and food. They provide a family meal each day during a break, when the space is closed, for the staff to sit together and eat.



Bali Kitchen, 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, is open every day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can follow them on Instagram here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Eat’s Khao Man Gai on 6th Street

A visit to Yoli Restaurant on 3rd Street

Preparing for Saturday's dinner at Il Posto Accanto on 2nd Street

A visit to the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street

A trip to the recently expanded Lancelotti Housewares on Avenue A

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

A break-in at Bali Kitchen



The folks at Bali Kitchen at 128 E. Fourth St. arrived at the restaurant between First Avenue and Second Avenue this morning... only to discover that someone had broken in...



A Bali rep said that the thief took the cash register and $350 in cash as well as the owner's reading glasses. It appeared as if someone also tried, without success, to smash into Tac N Roll next door.

The NYPD is investigating.

"Hope this won’t happen again to other restaurants," the rep said.

Bali opened on Sept. 12.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Bali Kitchen will start serving Indonesian cuisine tonight on 4th Street



Bali Kitchen opens this evening at 5 here at 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

The small restaurant is owned by Jazz Pasay, a fashion designer in Indonesia who also loves to cook. He has worked at Indonesian and Japanese restaurants in the past. This is his first restaurant in NYC, according to a Bali Kitchen rep, who added "we are delighted to be part of the East Village."

Bali Kitchen is open daily from 5-10:30 p.m. You can find the menu via the Bali website here.

---

Per Bali Kitchen: "We would like to invite the East Village community to celebrate our opening by giving a 15% discount when your readers mention 'EV Grieve' to our cashiers. This promotion is good until the end of September 2017."