The new sign is up at the former Tonda/E.U. space on East Fourth Street near Avenue B...
They already have a profile on
Open Table. Luigi Celentano is listed as the executive chef...
Celentano is the executive chef at Gigino Trattoria, which opened in Tribeca in 1994. Bob Giraldi and Phil Suarez own Gigino Trattoria.
Giraldi was also behind Tonda and, before that here, E.U., the first "gastropub" in the East Village. And that was drama city. E.U. battled the SLA for 18 months before finally getting approved for a beer and wine license. (Read more E.U. drama
here at Eater.)
Anyway, this is all much different than what reps taking over the space pitched to the CB3/SLA back in April. (Read more on this
here.)
Here are the minutes from that meeting, with the information about what was coming in here:
• 4AB LLC, 235 E 4th St (trans/op) (Tonda) VOTE: Understanding that 4AB LLC, with the proposed business name of Fleurie, has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the East 4th Street Avenues A to B Block Association, regarding its use of 235 East 4th Street, to deny the transfer of a full on‐premise liquor license to 4AB LLC, with a proposed business name of Fleurie, for the existing business Tonda, located at 235 East 4th Street, unless the applicant agrees before the SLA to make as conditions of its license the following signed notarized stipulation that 1) it will operate as a full‐service restaurant, serving food to within one (1) hour of closing, 2) its hours of operation will be from 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 A.M. weekdays and 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 A.M. weekends, with the exception that a street facing window will be open from 8:00 A.M. daily from which coffee and pastries will be served for take out, 3) it will install additional soundproofing as needed, 4) it will close any doors and windows by 10:00 P.M. weekdays and 11:00 P.M. weekends, 5) it will not have DJs or live music, 6) it will designate an employee or employees whose responsibilities will include monitoring the sidewalk to discourage patrons from loitering on the sidewalk and will provide a waiting area within the establishment to prevent patrons from waiting outside.
Not sure what all happened to these plans. At least from the Open Table description, we'll have Italian here... and it enters an already-crowded Italian restaurant market right here with Perbacco across the street ... Max around the corner on B ... Il Bagatto and Supper on Second Street ... to name a few...
EV Grieve reader Alexis Weiss took a look inside the other day... here's how it was shaping up so far...
[EVG file photo]
