Mother of Pearl and Honey Bee's close to make way for a larger Amor y Amargo on Avenue A

Changes are afoot at 95 Avenue A, East Village restaurateur Ravi DeRossi's complex of eating and dining establishments in the corner space on Sixth Street.

No. 95 housed three businesses: Honey Bee's, Amor y Amargo and Mother of Pearl. However, according to materials on file with Community Board 3, the spaces will be converted to accommodate a larger Amor y Amargo.

DeRossi is on CB3's SLA virtual docket tonight for the following changes at No. 95:

• Honey Bee's, Amor y Amargo and Mother of Pearl Room (Cien Fuegos LLC), 95 Ave A (op/alt/change method of operation: change current concepts of Honeybee's, a vegan Texas barbeque whiskey bar, and Mother of Pearl, a vegan tiki bar, to Amor y Amargo, a bitters bar).

A rep for Derossi Global confirmed the restructuring, and confirmed that Mother of Pearl and Honey Bee's have closed.



The expanded Amor y Amargo operation will now also include a full food menu.

Amor y Amargo debuted in 2011 with just a handful of seats, and quickly became celebrated as the country's first bitters-based bar.

Mother of Pearl opened here in July 2015, replacing another DeRossi venture, Gin Palace. Honey Bee's opened in May 2019 in the space that was Cienfuegos for 10 years.

DeRossi is known for switching up concepts in his restaurants either after a successful run or more quickly if the space doesn't pan out. In this case, the DeRossi rep said that the restructuring was "in response to COVID-19 and the new world we’re entering."

And 95 Avenue A is not the only DeRossi restaurant on tonight's CB3 agenda: He's changing the menu at Night Music:

• Night Music (Derossi Asia LLC), 111 E 7th St (b/alt/change method of operation: from a vegan Indian restaurant to a vegan Mexican restaurant)

Night Music, on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, opened last September.

At the beginning of the pandemic in NYC, Mother of Pearl distributed free school lunches during the week. DeRossi also distributed free vegan meals from Avant Garden on Seventh Street.

Openings (Night Music) and reopenings (Sauce Restaurant)

Night Music officially debuted last night at 111 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

This is Ravi DeRossi's latest vegan entry in the neighborhood. Here's a blurb from Grub Street on this Indian restaurant:

This time DeRossi has a secret weapon: his mom. She taught executive chef Spencer Caine how to cook all the traditional dishes Ravi ate growing up during a months-long vegan-Indian-cooking boot camp at her house in Colorado.

Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos!



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[Image via Sauce]

And down on Allen at Rivington, Sauce Restaurant re-opens today following a kitchen fire that forced the 8-year-old Italian joint to close back in early January.

The restaurant has been upgraded with a refreshed interior as well as a new food and drinks menu.

Adam Elzer, who took over ownership in 2016, also runs Sauce Pizzeria on 12th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue and Coco & Cru on Broadway at Bleecker.

Night Music signage arrives on 7th Street

The Night Music signage has arrived at 111 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue ... where Ravi DeRossi is opening a vegan Indian restaurant, as we noted back in June.



In an email, DeRossi said that they were still a few weeks away from an opening date.

Night Music takes the place of his Fire & Water, where the vegan sushi and dim sum concept didn't catch on. The restaurant is next door to Ladybird, another vegetable-friendly DeRossi establishment.

Ravi DeRossi bringing Indian cuisine to his former Fire & Water space on 7th Street

We noted last month that Fire & Water, East Village restaurateur Ravi DeRossi's attempt to veganize sushi and dim sum, had closed at 111 E. Seventh St.

Looks as if he figured out what he wants to do with the space here between Avenue A and First Avenue.

DeRossi is on CB3's SLA docket tonight for a beer-wine license for a vegan Indian restaurant called Night Music (to pair with his restaurant Ladybird right next door), per the questionnaire posted on the CB3 website. (This item will not be heard this evening, as DeRossi agreed to CB3's stipulations in advance.)

The restaurant, seating 44 guests, will be open daily from 5 p.m. to midnight. No word on an opening date just yet.

Updated 6 p.m.

DeRossi shared a logo for the restaurant. (We also had the name wrong — it's Night Music...)