$1 dish sale continues at former King Bee space on 9th Street

As we noted earlier this week, a new restaurant called Thursday Kitchen is opening at 424 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... at the time, the proprietors were selling of some dishes left behind by the former occupant, King Bee.

Anyway! In case you are interested, there are more $1 dishes outside for sale. (This photo is from right before 5 p.m. via EVG $1 Dish Correspondent Steven.)

Thursday Kitchen will serve Korean tapas on East 9th Street

A few more details have emerged about the restaurant taking over the former King Bee space at 424 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... the space will be called Thursday Kitchen, and serve Korean tapas, according to workers...



Thursday Kitchen is expecting to open in two more weeks.

As previously noted, a variety of concepts have come and gone in the space in recent years... including King Bee (Acadian cuisine), Exchange Alley (New Orleans-inspired fare), Olivia (Mediterranean), Sintir (Moroccan) and Zi' Pep (Italian).

Thanks to William Klayer for the photos and Steven for the initial tip.

King Bee has closed on East 9th Street

King Bee, which served Acadian cuisine (Canadian-Cajun), has closed at 424 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

The owners left this message on their King Bee website:

King Bee has closed.

We are grateful for each one of you who came through our door during the past (almost) 2 years.

Yours in good cheer,

Jeremie, Eben & Ken

On Friday, they were selling some plates, dishes and glassware for $1... (Updated: A reader said that the new owners of the restaurant were selling the leftover dishes and glassware.)



King Bee took over the space in 2014 from Exchange Alley, which opened in August 2012. Previously, Olivia, Sintir and Zi' Pep came and went in fairly quick succession.

Despite some quality operations, nothing has worked here. Doomed location?

We'll see. A tipster tells us that new owners already bought the space and are planning Korean BBQ.

Opening today: Barcade on St. Mark's Place; King Bee on East 9th Street

The newest outpost of Barcade, the craft beer-retro video game venue, opens today at 6 St. Mark's Place.

Unlike the other locations, this one will feature video games from the 1990s… like Moonwalker…



You can find the rundown of games, beers, food, etc., at the Barcade St. Mark's website here.

The address was previously home to NY Tofu House … and, after a quick succession of restaurants, Mondo Kim's, which Barcode co-owner Paul Kermizian used to frequent.

"It's just cool to be in the same space and to try [to] be here for a while, hopefully catering to the same nerdy, geeky crowd they did, just gamers instead of movie nerds," he told DNAinfo.

Gothamist has photos of the interior here.

Barcade's hours are noon to 2 a.m.

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[Photo from last week]

And tonight, King Bee debuts at 424 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

The restaurant is a collaboration between Eben Klemm, a beverage consultant, and Ken Jackson, a founding partner of restaurant Herbsaint in New Orleans. Their speciality: Acadian food.

We'll head to Fork in the Road's preview for more about this.

"We both felt that real Cajun cooking is hard to do in the north," says Klemm ... But through their research, they learned about the Acadian people, who are behind Cajun cooking: these people moved to Canada from France before making their way down through the United States via Maine, eventually ending up in Louisiana. And the cuisine they left in their wake, thought Jackson and Klemm, was something that could be explored here.

As we've pointed out, this space has been a carousel of restaurants in recent years... Exchange Alley, Olivia, Sintir and Zi' Pep couldn't make it work.

Back to Fork in the Road:

The partners have tried to price King Bee moderately, because they'd like it to become a neighborhood restaurant as well as a destination. "Ken and I had been looking for a space for three years, and he knew the people on this lease," Klemm says. "It's on a great, quiet block, and it's great to go to the Tompkins Square Greenmarket on Sundays and stock up on things for experimentation. Also, according to my mom, I was conceived 100 yards away from here. So there are a lot of reasons to be here."

Hours for dinner are Sunday, Monday and Wednesday from 5 p.m.-11 p.m. and Thursday-Saturday from 5 p.m.-midnight. Beer and wine only for now.

Cocktail specialist Eben Klemm opening King Bee in the former Exchange Alley space

The other day, we wondered if 424 E. Ninth St., where Exchange Alley just closed, was a doomed location.

After all, Exchange Alley, which opened in August 2012, was the latest to give this space a try between Avenue A and First Avenue … where Olivia, Sintir and Zi' Pep all closed in fairly quick succession.

However, there's a already a new suitor lined up to try the space… a sign out front notes that a restaurant by the name of King Bee will appear before next month's CB3/SLA committee for a wine-liquor license... and the applicant is noted mixologist Eben Klemm, the former MIT molecular biologist who created the "aperitif-driven cocktail program" at Pearl & Ash on the Bowery, among may other bars and restaurants.