The Peels sign has come down at the future home of Bar Primi on the Bowery

An EVG reader asked what was going on over at Peels, where workers removed the former restaurant's sign back on Friday…



Peels closed on Jan. 22 after three-plus years in business.

As Eater first reported, restaurateurs Andrew Carmellini, Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom will open a casual Italian restaurant here called Bar Primi … with a possible summer opening date.

Paperwork filed ahead of last month's CB3/SLA meeting showed that Bar Primi will have 22 total tables, seating 94 people as well as two bars good for 41 seats. (They also plan to have an outdoor cafe, just like Peels.) CB3 ultimately OK'd the new license.

A few details about Bar Primi, coming to the former Peels space on the Bowery

Peels closed for good on the Bowery on Jan. 22.

A "casual pasta shop" called Bar Primi is on the way in the space at East Second Street from restaurateurs Andrew Carmellini, Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom, as Eater first reported.

The group goes before CB3's SLA licensing committee on Monday night for a new liquor license for the address. The paperwork (PDF!) that the applicants filed at the CB3 website ahead of that meeting provide a few scant details on what to expect… The proposed hours are 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. seven days a week. The paperwork shows 22 total tables, seating 94 people as well as two bars good for 41 seats. (They also plan to have an outdoor cafe, just like Peels.)

Hmm, what else… Bar Primi will employ between 50-60 people… and "management will be charged with the responsibility of operating a restaurant that does not disturb its neighbors."

Eater noted that if all goes well for the trio, then Bar Primi will open this summer.

Confirmation on what's next for the former Peels space

At the Post today, Steve Cuozzo reports that Andrew Carmellini and business partners Luke Ostrom and Josh Pickard have taken over 325 Bowery, which housed Peels until its sudden closure last week.

Per Cuozzo:

The new eatery, likely to be an Italian trattoria in some form, reflects the Carmellini-Pickard empire’s swift growth.

The chef also operate Manhattan hits Locanda Verde, The Dutch, Joe’s Pub, The Library at the Public, and the newest, Lafayette.

Eater first reported this Peels rumor on Jan. 14.

Updated 11:45 a.m.

Oh! Eater has the scoop on exactly what's next here — a "casual pasta shop" called Bar Primi.

Peels closed for good yesterday on the Bowery; casual Italian next?

Apparently those rumors about Peels closing were true. In a statement to Grub Street yesterday, owners William Tigertt and Taavo Somer said: "We've had a great run and thank all of our staff, the neighborhood and customers for the years of support and memories."

The restaurant on the Bowery at East Second Street closed yesterday morning after breakfast service.

We'd like to thank our staff and our customers for the years of support and memories. We’ll miss everyone, but we have to say goodbye.

— Peels Restaurant (@PeelsNYC) January 22, 2014

The rumors surfaced when the address also showed up on this month's CB3/SLA committee docket. (The item was scratched from the agenda ahead of the meeting.)

In a comment on Jan. 13, an EVG reader said that Serge Becker and Josh Picard, who are taking over the 7A space, will be the new operators "for ... casual Italian. Just like Gemma a block away." Eater hears that it's Picard and Andrew Carmellini planning the restaurant in the space.

The building was sold last summer for more than $9 million.

Peels opened to much fanfare in August 2010. Their early drink menu included The Joey Ramone … made with apple brandy, lime juice and concord grape juice (or concord grape wine??)


Perhaps this inclusion made some sense as the restaurant did share a corner with Joey Ramone Place.

Enjoy this Avenue B apartment, just some 20 blocks from Peels

Was trolling some East Village apartment listings... found a new one for a nice apartment at 204 Avenue B between East 12th Street and East 13th Street... (2 bedrooms; $3,000 per month, etc.)

For some reason, the main photo accompanying the listing is of ... Peels, located nowhere near here on the Bowery at East Second Street...

And that Peels shot just looks so... staged. Some sort of fantasy urban retreat where everyone eats quinoa and recycles. Why not show the exteriors of the actual block? The apartment here in question is above B-Side...

Foodies are fucked: Momofuko, DBGB, Peels — CLOSED

Oh, Prune appears to be open for brunch.

Peels by numbers

On the Bowery at Second Street today. (At first look, I thought the artist was drawing the dumpster... but it's just the angle of the easel...) Photo by Bobby Williams.

Peels unveils it sidewalk cafe

Here on the Bowery at Second Street... Not quite the tropical paradise of the DBGB sidewalk cafe, but the tables just went up...

Peels is now the seventh eating-drinking establishment with sidewalk seating on the Bowery between Third Street and Houston... joining Gemma, DBGB, Agozar, Think Coffee, Double Crown and Slàinte.

You will now be able to enjoy your Joey Ramone on Joey Ramone Place

Peels, home to the Joey Ramone and situated on Joey Ramone Place, received the OK from the CB3/SLA committee Monday night to put out a sidewalk cafe. As Eater reported, "Peels' sidewalk cafe will be particularly large with an additional 46 seats outside."

46 seats? Will this make it the largest sidewalk cafe on the Bowery? Gemma, DBGB or Pulino's don't seem quite big enough for 46. I dunno. What do you think? Gemma does seem pretty big.

EV Eatery Etc.: Rhong Tiam scrubs its old exterior; Peels tosses some planters?

King Gyro on First Avenue recently opened... quite a lot on the menu...




...and awfully green inside ...



The old Rhong Tiam exterior on Second Avenue and Fifth Street got a scrubbing...

Jan. 10!



Now!



The DOH shutters Montein Thai Cuisine on Third Avenue near 12th Street...



A reader noted that these planters were lined up by the curb outside Peels on the Bowery this past weekend... Was Peels tossing them?

And BoweryBoogie noted that GWAR frontman Oderus Urungus is hosting a happy hour tomorrow at Idle Hands on Avenue B.

An American in Paris

From Adam Platt's review of Peels this week in New York:

Unlike Freemans, the new restaurant is located on a tricked-up stretch of the Bowery, which is fast becoming lower Manhattan’s answer to the Champs-Élysées.

Oui, oui? Or wee wee?

[Photo via; Hat tip, Curbed]

Looking for Joey Ramone Place

I wrote about the Joey Ramone drink at Peels on Monday.... some people pointed out that this actually made some sense seeing as Peels is on the corner of Second Street and the Bowery — aka Joey Ramone Place.

True. So I thought I'd walk by and check out the street sign. Don't recall seeing it lately.... So I looked...



...and looked...



...and looked...



....and...



...and...




Oh! There it is way up there!




For a moment, I thought the sign had been ripped off again. (Or removed by the city.) How many times has it been stolen anyway? Five? So now it's up there pretty high ... out of the reach of thieves... The sign first went up in November 2003.

Also, the Times has a great piece from October 2001 ... when the idea of Joey Ramone Place came before CB3. According to the article: "only two of the eight board members said they had heard of his band, the Ramones." They even asked for a Ramones primer...

On the Peels drink menu: The Joey Ramone (aka, this week's sign of the apocalypse)

A reader sent along a photo of the Peels drink menu... Hmm.

Booze-infused milkshakes ... The Bond Street Swizzle.... Purple Lady ... Jamaican Bug Juice ... Corn N' Oil ...

The JOEY RAMONE?!?!? With apple brandy, lime juice and concord grape juice (or concord grape wine??). I don't get it.

[Silence]

Anyway, the reader also noted that the food is really good at Peels.

[UPDATED]

Hmm... been more discussion on this than I anticipated.... And one reader thinks this makes sense since Peels is on the corner of the Bowery and Second Street — aka Joey Ramone Place.

Peels turns into Heels

Heh. The new American-style diner over on Bowery and Second Street....



... was closed to the public last night for a Fashion Week event....

Peels now has a Peels sign

The crew put it in place last night at the recently opened diner here on the Bowery and Second Street.

Breaking! Peels is open!

You know, the new diner on the Bowery and Second Street. Eater is there and has more details.

New Bowery diner insensitive to people with sunburns

As Grub Street reported on Friday, Peels is the name of the new diner from the Freemans gang coming to Bowery and Second Street...



As someone who has been sunburnt, I find this name offensive. Days after the sun exposure, my skin has peeled, and seemingly no amount of aloe and lotion has... Ha... but seriously, according to Grub Street:

Co-owner Taavo Somer affixed a short, blank-slate name to a modern, utilitarian design: a to-go counter situated to expedite takeout orders, communal seating for quick lunches, and an upstairs dining room equipped with booths of all sizes. The all-day menu offers egg dishes like the Yosemite (poached, with succotash), a “build-a-biscuit” program, and blueberry-and-corn shortcake, plus soda-fountain drinks and Stumptown coffee. Dinner ... to come

Meanwhile! Yesterday, as Eater noted, the plywood covering the windows came down...



The sign on the door reads "opening soon."