Beyond Sushi is now open on East 14th Street

Oh, meant to note this earlier... Beyond Sushi is now open on East 14th Street ... at the site of the former Royal Wigs.

The executive chef here is Guy Vaknin, once a finalist on shouty food show "Hell's Kitchen."

Diner's Journal gave it a nice write-up last Friday, noting "Except for the occasional egg, most of his bright, well-seasoned sushi is vegan. He uses a six-grain mixture or black rice as the base and fills the rolls with vegetables, fruits, herbs, spices and tofu."

And here's a lousy photo of part of the menu... find more menu stuff on the restaurant website here.

Beyond Sushi is the name of the restaurant taking the Royal Wigs space

Well, uh, the headline kind of says it all ... just a quick follow-up to our post last Tuesday about the sushi-vegetarian place taking over the Royal Wigs space on Ihop Way on East 14th Street ... the sign is now up for the new restaurant...



Seeing this reminded me that I have never tried any of the places on the north side of East 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... like Hawkers... or Bite... or 211 New Taco Grill... any of these places worth a visit?

From wigs to veggies on East 14th Street

For the past few months, we noticed that the Royal Wigs shop was never open on East 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... sure enough, in recent weeks, a few readers have spotted workers inside gutting the space... such as this one via LvV...



...and from Dave of 14th Street...



Dave said that it has been on the block the 15 years he has lived nearby ...

Before getting into history ... as for the future: A tipster tells us that it will be a vegetarian restaurant selling items that include wraps and sushi.

As for the past... like, Dave, it seems like the place has always been there. Does anyone know any of the store's history?

We came across an alt.rock country band called The Royal Wigs, who took their name from the store. According to the band's bio, the store "was frequented by such famous NYC denizens as Lou Reed, the New York Dolls, and Vivienne Westwood." Not sure about the merits of these claims ... though we like the thought of, say, Arthur Kane rummaging around in here one day years back ...

In any event, the storefront was always photogenic ... Here's a shot by Goggla...



...and via LuciaM on Panoramio...