The Marshal seizes Chouchou on 4th Street

A bad sign at Chouchou, the Mediterranean-Moroccan bistro on Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... there's a posted notice stating that the restaurant is now in the legal possession of the landlord...



There's nothing at the Chouchou website about a closure. We reached out to ownership to learn more about the situation here.

Chouchou, from Mario Carta, who also runs Pardon My French at 103 Avenue B, opened in March 2017. The cuisine here had been awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand the past two years. Carta's other venture on this block, Nobody Is Perfect, closed last August.

Pardon My French team bringing Moroccan cuisine to 4th Street with Chouchou

The owner and executive chef of Pardon My French on Avenue B are behind this Moroccan venture that officially debuts tonight at 215 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Here's a description via the Chouchou website:

The restaurant offers a contemporary take on classic Mediterranean favorites with the menu featuring Tagine lamb, spiced couscous, Moroccan pastries and fresh tangy salads.

Florence Fabricant had this to say in a mini preview in The New York Times:

[Executive chef David] Pegoli, who also worked at Luksus, has created a menu of six couscous preparations, as well as four tagines, including a lobster version, served in a collection of the elegantly embossed ceramic vessels of the same name.

Traditional tajines, couscous and pastries are prepared just as they should be by meticulous chef David Pegoli who imports all his spices from Morocco 🔥🤤 . . . . #eeeeeats #eatingnyc #tastingtable #newforkcity #eaterny #forkyeah #nycfat #devourpower #hungry #westvillage #nyc #newyorkcity #onemoredish #moroccan #morocconyc #moroccanfood #couscousnyc #eastvillage #opening #restaurantopening #couscousmarocain #tajine #couscous

A post shared by CHOUCHOU NYC (@chouchounyc) on Feb 22, 2017 at 2:00pm PST

CB3 originally recommended to deny the applicant's bid for a full liquor license for the space last September... in part because of the proposed 4 a.m. closing time on a side street that already had 18 full on-premises liquor licenses within 500 feet. The local block association was also against the full license. (The PDF of the official minutes are here.) The SLA website shows that there is an active license here for Restaurant Wine.

Until May 2016, the address was home for 13 years to the Italian restaurant In Vino.

You can find Chouchou's menu here. Chouchou is open daily from 5 p.m. to midnight.