Darin Rubell, co-owner of downtown Manhattan watering holes GalleryBar and Ella, and partners Mark Trzupek (former manager of Life Café 983) and chef David Rotter (Norwood), have taken over the cafe from Kathy Kirkpatrick.
Although Rubell and company plan on changing the name to just 983 (a play on the café’s address which is 983 Flushing Avenue) refreshing the food and bar menus and some cosmetic changes, they plan to retain the overall character of the space which is affectionately known as “Bushwick’s Living Room.”
The closing of Life Café 983 is the end of an era, as the influential Life brand will no longer have a presence in New York City. The original East Village location at East 10th Street and Avenue B, where playwright Jonathan Larson wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning “Rent,” closed in 2011. Rubell, who hoped to also take over the East Village space and is opening new restaurant with Rotter this fall, sees the Bushwick location as an opportunity to continue to serve the needs of this exciting neighborhood.
The daughter of prominent investment banker found, throat slashed on Lower East Side. Who killed Carlisle Brigham-Champalimaud? EWN at 5PM.
— NJ Burkett (@njburkett7) August 27, 2012
There was so much blood around Brigham’s neck when her body was found at 10:33 a.m. that investigators initially theorized she’d been slashed.
But they later said it appeared to be just a tragic accident, during which she shattered her chin on a step of the first-floor stairwell in the building.
For 10 years, the Gas Station, with its towering sculpture built from discards ranging from a 1970 Plymouth Valiant to department store mannequins to television sets, has been a symbol of the Lower East Side's Bohemian ways and artistic resolve.
This is what happens when a former Babbo sommelier and an ex–Del Posto kitchen whiz get together and open an unassuming little trattoria: mobs of salivating foodies and goggle-eyed scenesters clamoring to get in.
