Sushi Lounge emerges from a crowded combo of brands at 31 St. Mark's Place

[Image from June 15 via Facebook]

Since March 2016, the restaurant at 31 St. Mark's Place was a Hakata Hot Pot/Zen 6/Sushi Lounge combo.

Now, though, it appears the owners have opted to go with the familiar Sushi Lounge name for the space, as the new sign debuted here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue last Friday...



Also, here is the new menu cover...


[Image via Facebook]

So it appears to officially be Noodle Cafe Zen presents Sushi Lounge & Hakata Hot Pot.

To recap!

Higher rents chased Sushi Lounge from St. Mark's Place and Avenue A at the end of October 2013. (The corner space is now home to Empellón al Pastor, a bar with tacos.)

The owners of Sushi Lounge were also the new proprietors of Natori at 58 St. Mark's Place. (The original Natori, a longtime favorite, closed in November 2012.)

Then what was operating as the second Natori became Sushi Lounge in January 2014. Then they added the Hot Pot component. Then they all moved out of No. 58 to No. 31 in March 2016.

Previously on EV Grieve:
As the sushi turns: Sushi Lounge now operating out of the former Natori space on St. Mark's

Dumpster of the day

Workers have been clearing out the former Hakata Hot Pot and Sushi Lounge spaces at 58 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue the past few days (the restaurants did not have their leases renewed) ... so if you're looking for any chairs from Sushi Lounge ... or maybe a Kirin Beer/Zen 6 sign...



...head here before the contents are carted off to a landfill.

As for Hakata Hot Pot, they have merged with sister restaurant Zen 6 at 31 St. Mark's Place one block to the west.

Hakata Hot Pot (RIP Sushi Lounge) has moved on St. Mark's Place

Hakata Hot Pot and Sushi Lounge, housed in the retail spaces at 58 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue, are no more.

The restaurants shut down at the end of February. According to the owner, they lost their lease. (The building's new landlord is Raphael Toledano.)

However, Hakata Hot Pot will live on. Here's the message via Facebook:

Attention all of our guests!

Hakata Hot Pot and Sushi Lounge will move from 58 Saint Marks Place to 31 Saint Marks Place from March 1st.

Hakata Hot Pot had started 1983 as NATORI Restaurant.

Unfortunately we lost our lease in this place, and now we are going to join our sister restaurant Zen 6 since 1985 on the heart of Saint Marks Place between 2nd and 3rd avenue.

Zen 6 is Ramen restaurant, and we will add new Japanese Hot Pot on the menu.

Our new restaurant name is Hakata Hot Pot & Zen 6.

Please visit feel free to our new location and enjoy our authentic Hakata style izakaya food.

Thank you for your patronage.
owner
Hideyuki Okayama

Let's see if we have this straight. Higher rents chased Sushi Lounge from St. Mark's Place and Avenue A at the end of October 2013. (The corner space is now home to Empellón al Pastor, a bar with tacos.)

The owners of Sushi Lounge were also the new proprietors of Natori at 58 St. Mark's Place. (The original Natori, a longtime favorite, closed in November 2012.)

Then what was operating as the second Natori became Sushi Lounge in January 2014. Then they added the Hot Pot component.

Anyway, what we do know is that Hakata Hot Pot and Zen 6 will be under one roof at 31 St. Mark's Place...



H/T EVG reader Morgan!

Previously on EV Grieve:
As the sushi turns: Sushi Lounge now operating out of the former Natori space on St. Mark's

Empellón al Pastor is now open on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

Empellón al Pastor, the third restaurant from Alex (Empellón Cocina, Empellón Taqueria), is now open.

The doors opened at 12:30… or at least that's what the signs promised… that and football...



Here's a look at the menu… four of the five menu panels are devoted to alcohol …





There's also delivery via Caviar.

And Stupak said this about the space to WWD:

His choice of venue drives home the point: in the Eighties, it was a punk dive bar called Alcatraz. Stupak tapped several artist friends to re-create graffiti on the inside to look weathered.

“At the end of the day, I wanted it to feel like a quirky dive bar that someone happened to inject a taqueria into,” he says.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

CB3 OKs liquor license for Alex Stupak's new restaurant on St. Mark's Place

More about Empellón al Pastor, opening this fall on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

[Updated] At Empellón al Pastor, with graffiti on the outside and Charles Bukowski on the inside

[Photo Sunday by Richard Kopperdahl]

Work continues on the exterior of Empellón al Pastor, the bar meets tortilleria opening soon on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place.

Not sure exactly what's going on out here… a graffiti tribute of sorts…





Meanwhile, as Eater pointed out yesterday, the interior includes a wall adorned with a Charles Bukowski quote …


[Via Instagram]

The third restaurant from Alex (Empellón Cocina, Empellón Taqueria) Stupak is expected to open soonish.

Updated 10-8

Workers installed the new awning yesterday...





Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

CB3 OKs liquor license for Alex Stupak's new restaurant on St. Mark's Place

More about Empellón al Pastor, opening this fall on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

Here is the new entry step for Empellón al Pastor

Lots of activity at the former Sushi Lounge space, where Alex (Empellón Cocina, Empellón Taqueria) Stupak is opening Empellón al Pastor (bar meets tortilleria!) this fall here on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place.

Given that it is apparently the most anticipated restaurant opening on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place this fall, here's a progress report on the entrance. Specifically the entry step...

June!



Now!



Tomorrow, we hope to have an exclusive look at the door handle.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

CB3 OKs liquor license for Alex Stupak's new restaurant on St. Mark's Place

More about Empellón al Pastor, opening this fall on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

More about Empellón al Pastor, opening this fall on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

Work continues at the former Sushi Lounge space, where Alex (Empellón Cocina, Empellón Taqueria) Stupak is opening a restaurant this fall here on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place.

New York magazine has a preview of the new place:

Empellón al Pastor [is] Stupak’s most casual place to date (he calls it a bar and tortilleria), hard by the western entrance of Tompkins Square Park and situated in the corner space that once housed the punk-rock dive Alcatraz. It’s a lot of firsts for Stupak: open kitchen, no reservations, paper plates, disposable cutlery, five micheladas (including one devised by Wylie Dufresne), and no desserts. The idea is to strip everything down to the bare minimum, both to keep costs low and to remove all potential obstacles between taco and customer.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

CB3 OKs liquor license for Alex Stupak's new restaurant on St. Mark's Place

1st signs of activity at Alex Stupak's incoming restaurant on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

Several readers noticed workers inside the former Sushi Lounge space on Friday … not much activity according to EVG reader Russ, but the first sign of life for the new restaurant that Alex (Empellón Cocina, Empellón Taqueria) Stupak plans to open here on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place …

Otherwise, the corner remains the same this summer.


[EVG photo from yesterday]

Stupak told Eater in March that he plans on having a small facility here at 132 St. Mark's Place to make tortillas for his restaurants.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

CB3 OKs liquor license for Alex Stupak's new restaurant on St. Mark's Place

Report: Alex Stupak's new restuarant on St. Mark's Place will have its own tortilleria

As you know, Alex Stupak, who operates Empellón Cocina and Empellón Taqueria, is opening a restaurant at 132 St. Mark's Place at Avenue A, where the Sushi Lounge closed at the end of October.

Stupak told Eater yesterday that the place will house more than just another Mexican restaurant. The space will also be home to a tortilleria, which will supply this restaurant and his two others with tortillas.

Per Eater:

We are building a bar and restaurant around a small facility dedicated to the process ... Our new place will go from kernel of corn, to nixtamal, to masa, to tortilla at 132 St. Marks ...

The still-unnamed restaurant looks to open in September.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

For rent signs come down at former Sushi Lounge

An EVG reader happened to walk by this morning at the moment a broker (or somebody) removed the for rent signs at the former Sushi Lounge on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place.



Alex Stupak, the chef at Empellón Cocina and Empellón Taqueria, plans to open his third restaurant here. CB3 OK'd his liquor license last month.

The Sushi Lounge closed at the end of October ... and eventually relocated a block and a half to the west on St. Mark's Place.

We haven't spotted any new work permits just yet for the address.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

As the sushi turns: Sushi Lounge now operating out of the former Natori space on St. Mark's

[From November]

Higher rents chased Sushi Lounge from St. Mark's Place and Avenue A at the end of October.

Turns out the Sushi Lounge folks were also the new owners of Natori up the way on St. Mark's Place. (The original Natori, a longtime favorite, closed in November 2012.)

Got all that? No? Us either!

Anyway, what was operating as Natori is now… Sushi Lounge. A worker confirmed that they are the same Sushi Lounge that anchored the corner of St. Mark's and A…





As for the former Sushi Lounge space, chef Alex Stupak will be opening his third restaurant here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Sushi Lounge has closed (17 comments)

Natori remains open on St. Mark's Place

CB3 OKs liquor license for Alex Stupak's new restaurant on St. Mark's Place

Alex Stupak, who runs the well-regarded Empellón Cocina and Empellón Taqueria, plans to open his third restaurant at 132 St. Mark's Place at Avenue A, where the Sushi Lounge closed at the end of October.

On Monday night, CB3's SLA committee granted him a liquor license for the space.

Okay! I have a liquor license at 132 St. Marks now. I guess I'd better build a restaurant now.

— alex stupak (@alexstupak) January 14, 2014

Stupak told Eater on Dec. 23 that he hasn't decided on the concept for the space just yet.

Ahead of the meeting, some neighbors had concerns about another full liquor license and a 2 a.m. closing time in an area already saturated with liquor licenses.

Neighbors apparently met with Stupak last week. We heard that the meeting went well…



However, as we understand it, there was still some opposition to another liquor license. One EVG confidant at the meeting said that there were CB3 stipulations that the restaurant will only serve mescal, not a complete bar; that the initial operating hours would be restricted, subject to later expansion. (The proposed hours were 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. We didn't hear what the agreed-upon new hours will be.)

Regardless, there was a lot of enthusiastic support for Stupak — including from a sitting member of the CB3/SLA committee.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

Here are a few scant details about chef Alex Stupak's new venture on St. Mark's Place

If you are looking for more details about chef Alex Stupak's new restaurant at the former Sushi Lounge space, then you will be mildly disappointed in the paperwork filed ahead of this month's CB3/SLA meeting. There aren't too many clues about what's coming here, other than the number of tables, etc.

Stupak, who runs the well-regarded Empellón Cocina and Empellón Taqueria, plans to open his third restaurant here at 132 St. Mark's Place at Avenue A, where the Sushi Lounge closed at the end of October.

According to the documents on file (PDF!) on the CB3 website, the unnamed new restaurant has proposed hours of 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily… there are 18 tables with 48 seats, one bar with eight seats … plus an "open kitchen with dining counter."

And here is a sketch of the interior layout that accompanied the CB3 materials…



Stupak told Eater on Dec. 23 that he hasn't decided on the concept for the space just yet.

The CB3/SLA committee meeting takes place next Monday night at 6:30.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

As the for rent signs turn on Avenue A

Now that the deal to reopen the Odessa Cafe and Bar at 117 Avenue A is officially dead … a for rent notice arrived on Saturday… with the familiar "Call Harvey" sign of Croman Realty… The Odessa Cafe and Bar closed after service on Aug. 31. Odessa co-owner Mike Skulikidis has been running the place since 1980. (The Odessa dates here to 1965.) The Odessa Restaurant remains open next door.



-----

Meanwhile, a few storefronts away on the corner of St. Mark's Place… the for rent signs came down… along with the sign of the former tenant — Sushi Lounge. (The gate got a paint job too.)



Empellón chef Alex Stupak plans to open his third restaurant at this location. The Sushi Lounge closed at the end of October.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar for sale on Avenue A

Former GM from Tribeca's Tiny's & the Bar Upstairs part of team to buy the Odessa Cafe

Reader report: Odessa Cafe and Bar will remain open through Sept. 6

[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

[Updated] Chef Alex Stupak vying for former Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

Sushi Lounge closed on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place at the end October, as we first reported. And now a potential suitor is lining up to take over the space. A handful of signs appeared yesterday ahead of the January CB3/SLA committee meeting…



The signs point to Empellón, chef Alex Stupak's well-regarded Mexican restaurants.



No word if this will be a third space for Stupak, who runs Empellón Cocina on First Avenue near East Sixth Street and Empellón Taqueria on West Fourth Street … or he is simply moving, say, Empellón Cocina into this more high-profle corner space.

Updated 12-23
Stupak tells Eater that this will be his third restaurant... (so no one is moving) ... and that he hasn't decided on the concept for the space just yet.

The former Sushi Lounge is for rent

As we first reported this past Friday, Sushi Lounge has closed on the corner of St. Mark's Place and Avenue A... a "for rent" sign quickly went up...



We didn't call Mr. Josh at Gibraltar Management Co. to inquirer about the asking rent... a Sushi Lounge manager told a reader that their rent was $27,000 ... So, any thoughts on what will take this space with rents at that level?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Sushi Lounge has closed (17 comments)

Sushi Lounge has closed

Workers cleared out the Sushi Lounge space on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place yesterday afternoon... a manager told EVG regular @salim that the space was "too expensive."

No word on what might be next for this prime piece of East Village real estate. (Bring back Alcatraz?)