Suki set for 7th Street

[Photo last Thursday by Derek Berg]

Work continues at 86 E. Seventh St., the sliver of a retail space just east of First Avenue.

Last week, workers removed the sign of the previous tenant, Cafe Che (and later Benny's Burritos & Empanadas), which sold a variety of empanadas.

Word here is that a Japanese restaurant called Suki will be opening in a few weeks...



We don't have any other details about Suki at the moment.


[Photos by Steven]

Mark Merker, who launched Harry's and Benny's Burritos in 1987, opened Cafe Che in April 2017 ... after a brief closure, it returned as Benny's Burritos & Empanadas this past January. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make the space work, closing for good in March.

The space was home until the fall of 2016 to Abraço, the popular coffee shop/cafe that moved across Seventh Street.

Updated July 2

Suki is now open.

H/T Derek Berg and Steven!

Che Cafe returns as Benny's Burritos & Empanadas on 7th Street

Back on Jan. 10, Derek Berg spotted workers installing the Cafe Che winterized doorway on the front of the new East Village Playhouse on Sixth Street.



Not a good sign, at least for Cafe Che, which then went dark.

I asked owner Mark Merker, who launched Harry's and Benny's Burritos in 1987, what was happening with Cafe Che. He started selling empanada pocket and other items last April at 86 E. Seventh St. just west of First Avenue.


[Photo of Merker from last April by Steven]

"Right now we are in a pause," he said, and that he hoped to return in a few weeks with an expanded menu.

And yesterday, Cafe Che was back. As Jeremiah Moss first reported, the space is now going as Benny's Burritos & Empanadas.

The expanded menu will eventually include burritos and empanadas, along with tacos, chicken tortilla soup and more. Merker told me last night that the burritos will be on the menu in a few weeks.

So some good news for fans of Benny's, which closed on Avenue A and Sixth Street after 27 years in business in November 2014. (The Benny's to-go space next door closed in February 2015.)

Oh, and what about the Cafe Che winterized doorway? "That needed to come down because of a complaint called in to 311," Merker told me.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A look at Che Cafe, home of empanada pouches