Showing posts with label Lucky Cheng's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lucky Cheng's. Show all posts

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Suitor in line for Lucky Cheng's space

The November agenda is out for the CB3/SLA committee meeting... we'll highlight the docket in full a little later... (You can find it here for now.)

A few quick notes. The folks from the incoming Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken on East First Street are down for a beer-wine license.


Also, there's an unnamed suitor for the Lucky Cheng's space. (The cabaret is now open on Times Square.)

I asked Lucky Cheng's owner Hayne Suthon for an update on the space this morning, and she wasn't quite ready to divulge the To Be Determined. "Not sure. The attorneys are negotiating still — one main tenant with a back up," she said via email.

In an interview with Suthon on Oct. 12, Blackbook's Steve Lewis had this to sale about the evolution of Lucky Cheng's and what is next:

All was good until the neighborhood changed. The East Village/LES's conversion from hipster heaven to dormitories for slaves and students left them without their base. Bachelorette and birthday shindigs filled the Lucky Cheng’s room,and Hayne eyed the new Times Square. A year or two ago, I told everyone in town that her space was available and the best game in town. Now, operators are clamoring for it and deals are done... almost. Someone will make it nice for those who are now around. Money will be spent to pay for the rent, the renovation, and other things. The neighborhood can now support that. Whatever fabulous that comes in will set a bar... a tone for the area.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Lucky Cheng's celebrates its 19th anniversary this weekend

And over on the Lucky Cheng's Facebook page, there's a post that this weekend marks the cabaret's 19th anniversary... "Come celebrate with us one last time at our birthplace in the East Village."

And per the Lucky Cheng's Twitter feed:

A look back at our humble beginning. Mr. Cheng with the original 1993 staff: Tora, Poupée, Mama Mei-Ling, and Daisy.


Not sure when they are actually moving up to Times Square. There have been a lot of different dates mentioned via various sources. So we'll just go with "soon."

Meanwhile, for more on the Lucky Cheng's building on First Avenue at East Second Street, Jeremiah's Vanishing New York has a nice history of the space here.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Soft opening set for new Lucky Chengs's, where Leonardo DiCaprio has already seen some breasts

According to the Lucky Cheng's Facebook page, the drag cabaret will likely have a soft opening at their new 52nd Street location on Sept. 26 (subject to change, of course...)


Also, the hiring process continues:

UPDATE ON Lucky Chengs INTERVIEW AND AUDITIONS:

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH at 240 W 52nd St.

12pm for interviews as a boy. Bring a resume and a picture of you as a girl.

5pm for auditions as a girl. Bring a number no longer than 2 minutes.

***Everyone must audition regardless of applying for host, bar, or server.***

***This process will be filmed by Peacock Productions for potential inclusion in a reality television show project. You DO NOT have to be filmed in order to be considered for employment.****

Last note about the new Lucky Cheng's ... Martin Scorsese has made use of the new space. According to Page Six, his crew "decked out the soon-to-be-open drag bar ... to look like a strip joint" for a scene in his upcoming "The Wolf of Wall Street," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey.

Per Page Six last Friday: "The girls were rubbing their breasts in Leo’s face," says a source. "There were five or six of them, but he seemed very professional and looked great in an ’80s-style suit."

Not sure what the "five or six of them" refers to...Uh, meanwhile, no official word yet on a new tenant for the current space on First Avenue...


Previously.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Bento Burger has closed

Bento Burger opened here on East Second Street near First Avenue back in April 2011 ... the Asian-style roadhouse specializing in hamburgers was part of the Lucky Cheng's complex...


...and it's now closed...


... previously, the space was home to the BBQ joint Marfa... and, before that, the tiki-themed Waikiki Wally's ... (whose banner is still visible atop the building...) ... and La Nouvelle Justine ...


Meanwhile, as you probably know, Lucky Cheng's is moving to West 52th Street, as Grub Street first reported, in the coming weeks (six weeks was the word Michael Musto heard at the Voice the other day...)

Previously.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Friday, June 29, 2012

[Updated] DOH temporarily closes Lucky Cheng's

During a walk by Lucky Cheng's last night... people were checking out the DOH sticker on the basement door here on First Avenue... According to the DOH, the city issued 79 violation points, including for the usual "evidence" of things as well as for a variety of flies...

As Grub Street reported a few weeks back, Lucky Cheng's will relocate to 240 W. 52nd St. when the new space is ready... here's the listing for the First Avenue space.

Back in April, owner Hayne Suthon told us that they'd hope to move in mid-July, though that timetable wasn't a definite.

Updated 10:44 a.m.
Suthon responded to our email... She says that the inspector arrived Wednesday afternoon, after the space had been closed since Saturday night... and while the bar-restaurant was not open yet for business.

"We do our DOH walkthrough every night a little over an hour before we open, with a manager and kitchen manager," she said via email. "[The inspector] just walked in because the door happened to be open. The manager was not even there, the kitchen guys just recently arrived, the porters just started cleaning."

Suthon also takes exception with elements of the report; that some of what was in the report is wrong, such as the time element of the inspection.

"Interesting time warp. I think he realized into the inspection that we were neither open nor even close to opening ... If he had come in when we were open, the porters would had fully cleaned, we would have done our DOH nightly walkthrough — this would not have happened."

In any event, she said that "we fixed what we needed to fix." And she expects to be back open as usual tonight.

Friday, April 27, 2012

The rent for the Lucky Cheng's space

A few weeks ago, Eater reported that Steve Kamali Hospitality was looking for an operator to take over the Lucky Cheng's space on First Avenue at East Second Street.

At the time, we couldn't find the listing... here it is, though there isn't a mention of rent...


A tipster with knowledge of the lease told us the asking rent: $40,000 a month for the massive space that includes two full-service kitchens, three full liquor licenses and a cabaret license.

On April 10, owner Hayne Suthon told us that there are several interested parties, but no deal yet. She plans to leave the space for Midtown in mid-July.

For more on the history of the space, visit Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

Previously.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Lucky Cheng's looking to move by mid-July

Last evening, Eater reported that "Steve Kamali Hospitality is currently searching for an operator to take over the massive Lucky Cheng's space."

After nearly four years of speculation, the famed drag bar on First Avenue is moving to Midtown. (Grub Street first heard the latest rumor on the move back in December.)

We asked owner Hayne Suthon for an update on all this.

"There are several interested parties, but no lease out yet," she said via email. "[We] should be making the move by mid-July. Getting the keys and finalizing the lease today for the Times Square location."

In December, Suthon told Jeremiah Moss that the building is not for sale. She is "looking for a great operator to create something truly fantastic, in keeping in the tradition of the building. God forbid someone upsets the resident ghosts."

For more on the history of the space, visit Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

[EVG file photo]

Friday, March 4, 2011

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Branching out at Lucky Cheng's

A large branch now rests in front of Lucky Cheng's on First Avenue near Second Street....






Not sure if it simply fell... or was torn... or was clipped by the M15... but here's where it came from... just a few feet away...

Saturday, June 20, 2009

The Post's headline is "Caw 911"



The Post has the story today about Redrum, the clipped-wing red lorikeet that belongs to Lucky Cheng's owner Hayne Suthon. According to the paper, Suthon was standing on the deck of her apartment above the First Avenue club. The bird got spooked and fell three stories to a tree below around 6:30. Luckily, this occurred before the stretch limos and bachelorette parties rolled in...

About an hour later, the bird fell into the busy street. That's when waiter Christopher Kelly, 33, sprung into action.

"I ran out and put my arms out to slow the traffic down and, luckily, I was able to jump on it," he said.

Redrum was safe and sound last night, and Suthon thanked the bird's savior.

"That was so brave," she said.


Which reminds me that I haven't seen "The Shining" in a long time.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

From tiki to minimalistic Marfa

It looks as if the former Waikiki Wally's space on Second Street is ready for action...It's Marfa, which is either taken from Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" or the town in Texas. Or, um, maybe it's just Marfa.



They have drink specials...



...and some food...(the sign says the full menu debuts Feb. 12...)





And why are these photos so blurry? It's as if I took them while jogging by or something. Anyway! It wasn't open when I walked by last night some time before 7. Pretty spare decor. Not one piece of Polynesian kitsch spotted. Not even a sliver of bamboo.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The tiki Gods aren't smiling: Waikiki Wally's washed up?

As you know, it has been reported that Lucky Cheng's will be moving from its First Avenue digs to Times Square one of these days...Wasn't sure what was going to happen to Hayne Suthon's other place, Waikiki Wally's... just around the corner on Second Street -- the quirky place where people have gotten their Don Ho (RIP) on since September 2002...From the looks of it, Wally won't be making the move. It's closed. According to a message on The New York City Ukulele Meetup Group site (by the way, I'm not a member), there was a goodbye party for Wally's on Jan. 3. "It will change themes and is being converted from tiki to minimalistic Marfa !! Come take a commemorative piece of Wally's thatch or bamboo ... "



So, with this closure and the loss in recent days of Love Saves the Day and Old Devil Moon, can we assume that kitsch is out...?

Friday, September 19, 2008

Lucky Cheng's leaving the East Village for the wilds of Times Square

News from GNML via Eater.

As Down by the Hipster notes: "We are also happy that it will be bringing its legions of tourists and bachelorette parties with them. Walking past the restaurant on a weekend night is like walking through a gauntlet of cheese. You know what we mean. You know."


Thanks for the memories!