[Photo from Aug. 25 by Michael Hirsch]
Gandhi, the 31-year-old East Sixth Street mainstay, closed for good at the end of July.
As we pointed out on Aug. 5, Shane Covey, co-owner of Upstate around the corner, and Adam Elzer, operating partner at Sauce Restaurant, Supper, Lil Frankie's and Frank, are opening a new restaurant here on East Sixth Street just west of First Avenue.
Covey shared a few more details about his plans.
For starters, he's not closing or moving Upstate, the small seafood-centric restaurant with a rotating list of craft beer at 95 First Ave.
"I built that place with my Dad and my chef and I spend just about every waking moment in there and couldn't fathom moving it," Covey said via email. "I put Upstate in the East Village with the sole purpose of being a part of the community. It's a neighborhood place, and it's function is to be part of the community."
And why the new space?
"The problem is we turn so many area people away that it is driving me nuts." So he had been looking for someplace nearby to open what he describes as a neighborhood fish place.
And then the Gandhi space became available. He decided to team up with his friend Adam Elzer on the new venture.
"He asked what I was going to call it. I wasn't sure, so I paused. Adam said, 'let's name it after our fathers.' So Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar it is," Covey said.
He said that Edwin and Neal's will be "a mirror image of Upstate."
"I am just going to emphasize the raw bar aspect. At Upstate I have a full liquor license, but I don't serve booze. I like the craft beer aspect," he said. "So that is what we will be doing at the former Ghandi space. I want to source the freshest seafood and beer and make sure people can afford it. Makes no sense being a local joint if the locals can't afford it."
