The Wayland opened on Avenue C at East Ninth Street back in January... and now the cocktail bar and music venue plans to expand to the empty space next door that Bite Me Best recently vacated.
Rob Ceraso, one of the owners, confirmed the move.
"The main catalyst for the expansion was to gain a full kitchen. When it was offered to us it was hard to say no," he said in a message via Facebook. "Our food has become more popular than we had originally anticipated. We've grown out of the tiny kitchen we designed behind the bar."
Ceraso said that most of the former pizzeria will be used as a kitchen and prep area. In addition to offering more menu items, they will increase the size of the bar by five-six seats... with another four seats at a table.
He noted that the kitchen will continue to be open during almost all of the bar's business hours. They've been serving food until 2 a.m. on weeknights and 3 a.m. on weekends.
And the general reception so far for The Wayland, which took over the Banjo Jim's space?
"Things have been going well," Ceraso said. "The neighborhood has been really great to us."
The Wayland appears before the CB3/SLA committee next Monday for approval.
