Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar gives way to Tableside on 6th Street

Back in December 2015, Shane Covey, along with Adam Elzer, operating partner at Sauce Restaurant, Supper, Lil Frankie's and Frank, opened Edward and Neal's Fish Bar on Sixth Street near First Avenue.

The idea was that Edward and Neal's would be an offshoot of Covey's Upstate, his popular craft beer and oyster outpost around the corner on First Avenue.

After 14 months, Covey has decided to switch up concepts... which explains the arrival late last week of Tableside, an Italian Cook Shoppe...





A sign on the door points to some spring cleaning...



We asked Covey more about the new venture.

"I needed to switch it up. I was never able to be there as much as I should. Running fresh fish places took all of my time," he said. "Also I thought the prices were too high. I have not raised Upstate's prices since we opened [in 2011]. So Edwin and Neal's had to compete with a fish place right around the corner with better price points."

And how was business?

"Financially, the place was doing better than fine. I was pleased with it. But I was tired, I needed something a little easier to run," he said. "I found a great young manager Anthony who comes from a restaurant family."

Despite the "shoppe" in the name, there won't be any retail at Tableside — "just good fresh and affordable pastas and wine." He also said that he is retaining the entire Edwin and Neal's staff, front and back of the house. "So all the same familiar faces, just instead of fish it's going to be Italian."

Covey said that he is using March to renovate.

"The [neighborhood] is a little slow and then — hopefully — we are back come April."

Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos!

Openings: Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar, Virgola

Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar is now in service at 345 E. Sixth St. just west of First Avenue. As we first reported, the restaurant is a larger extension of Shane Covey's Upstate, which is still in business around the corner at 95 First Ave. He described Edwin and Neal's as a neighborhood fish place.

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On East Seventh Street, an outpost of the Greenwich Avenue-based Virgola, an oyster and wine bar, has opened at 111 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar, coming soon to East 6th Street

Oysters coming to the former Bourgeois Pig space on East 7th Street

Fish Bar signage arrives on East 6th Street

Over at 345 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, the transformation of the former Gandhi space continues. As previously reported, Shane Covey, co-owner of Upstate around the corner, and Adam Elzer, operating partner at Sauce Restaurant, are opening Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar (named after their fathers).

Anyway, the new sign has arrived…


[Photo by Vinny & O]

Hopefully no one will confuse the restaurant with Fish Bar on East Fifth Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar, coming soon to East 6th Street

More about Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar, coming soon to East 6th Street

[Photo from Aug. 25 by Michael Hirsch]

Gandhi, the 31-year-old East Sixth Street mainstay, closed for good at the end of July.

As we pointed out on Aug. 5, Shane Covey, co-owner of Upstate around the corner, and Adam Elzer, operating partner at Sauce Restaurant, Supper, Lil Frankie's and Frank, are opening a new restaurant here on East Sixth Street just west of First Avenue.

Covey shared a few more details about his plans.

For starters, he's not closing or moving Upstate, the small seafood-centric restaurant with a rotating list of craft beer at 95 First Ave.

"I built that place with my Dad and my chef and I spend just about every waking moment in there and couldn't fathom moving it," Covey said via email. "I put Upstate in the East Village with the sole purpose of being a part of the community. It's a neighborhood place, and it's function is to be part of the community."

And why the new space?

"The problem is we turn so many area people away that it is driving me nuts." So he had been looking for someplace nearby to open what he describes as a neighborhood fish place.

And then the Gandhi space became available. He decided to team up with his friend Adam Elzer on the new venture.

"He asked what I was going to call it. I wasn't sure, so I paused. Adam said, 'let's name it after our fathers.' So Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar it is," Covey said.

He said that Edwin and Neal's will be "a mirror image of Upstate."

"I am just going to emphasize the raw bar aspect. At Upstate I have a full liquor license, but I don't serve booze. I like the craft beer aspect," he said. "So that is what we will be doing at the former Ghandi space. I want to source the freshest seafood and beer and make sure people can afford it. Makes no sense being a local joint if the locals can't afford it."