The Athenian NYC, now serving Mediterranean fare on 10th Street

Before Jason Corey opened The Immigrant Wine Bar on Ninth Street in 2009, he tended bar at Molyvos, a Greek restaurant near Carnegie Hall.

Corey and Kamal Kouiri, the current wine director and GM at Molyvos, spent years drinking Greek wine together.

Now the two have opened their own Greek cafe. The Athenian NYC debuted last Thursday at 224 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

The small space was previously home to Graffiti, the well-regarded restaurant from chef Jehangir Mehta.

"The landlords are extremely nice people, so when I heard the space was going to be vacant, we jumped on it," Corey told me.

At the Athenian, he said people can expect to find "great Mediterranean food, delicious Greek wines, and happy servers and chefs."

The kitchen is open daily from 5-11 p.m. More info will be coming to their website soon.

The Immigrant adds cocktails to its menu on 9th Street

The signage for cocktails arrived this afternoon outside The Immigrant, the low-key neighborhood bar at 341 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

The Immigrant, which opened in 2009, started serving several cocktail choices last month to supplement the wine bar menu, according to owner Jason Corey.

The "immigrant themed" menu includes an Old School Manhattan, a Bee's Knees, a Green Juice Margarita and a Cuba Libre with Havana Club Rum, Corey said.

For now, the cocktails won't be served in the Tap Room, the extension that opened next door in 2013.



Thanks to Steven for the photos!

The Immigrant Tap Room is now open on East Ninth Street

EVG reader MP notes that the Immigrant Tap Room is now open on East Ninth Street...



As we first reported in January, Jason Corey (pictured above) was opening a bar extension next door to The Immigrant ... he called the new space "a low-key locals hangout bar extension."

Updates on yesterday's bar-restaurant rumors

1. The owners of The Immigrant will open a cafe adjacent to their current home on East Ninth Street. True.

Late yesterday afternoon, owner Jason Corey confirmed his intention to open a similar space next door. If all goes well, then he is "hoping to open our low-key locals hangout bar extension in the next two months." The Immigrant Tap Room is a working name for the new space now, with both beer and wine likely available.

2. The Mermaid Inn is expanding into the Candela Candela space next door on Second Avenue. False.

A Mermaid Inn rep contacted us early yesterday afternoon and said that their news announcement teased via Twitter was not about an expansion.

Their news: Starting on Monday, they'll have a happy hour every day from 5-7 p.m. Also: On March 23, to coincide with the celebration of The Mermaid Inn's 10-year anniversary, they are launching a lunch service on weekends from 12:30-4:30 p.m.

Rumors: The owners of The Immigrant hope to open new cafe on East Ninth Street

A tipster tells us that the East Village residents behind The Immigrant, the small wine bar at 341 E. Ninth St., will also rent the space next door ... which was most recently the clothing boutique Change of Season.

We understand that the concept will be similar to the low-key atmosphere of the Immigrant, though with more of an emphasis on beer rather than wine. Look for this application to appear on the next CB3/SLA docket.

Although we don't have a lot of direct experience with The Immigrant, we're told that they pick up as much of their supplies as possible from businesses such as Russo's that are within a few blocks of here...