I hadn't heard anything from readers about the restaurant, which serves Chinese barbecue, seafood and an assortment of kebobs. The dining room was empty the few times I walked by during the winter.
However, as Eater noted yesterday, Le Sia is catching on, especially with students.
Eater's Robert Sietsema paid a visit and came away impressed. (The headline: "NYC’s Most Exciting New Chinese Restaurant Dares to Pile the Heat on Seafood.")
An excerpt:
Beyond the seafood, the menu also offers robust menu of other Chinese dishes — many of them offered here for the first time outside Queens. It’s a bold move; many of the newer Chinese restaurants in neighborhoods outside of immigrant enclaves like Sunset Park or Flushing either come from restaurateurs with experience in Western-style restaurants (like Little Tong) or offer water-downed versions of traditional Chinese fare (like Han Dynasty).
Hunan and Sichuan restaurants nearby already stir fry fresh green chiles with sliced pork or pork belly, for example, but here, fiery peppers are instead tossed with gluey cubes of pig trotter, with a texture something like melting gummy bears. Called “wok-fried hog hoof jelly with pepper” ($16.95), it’s one of four chef’s specials. Another less-known dish available here is a “dough drop and assorted vegetable soup” ($12.95), a comforting tomato broth with free-form dumplings.
And in conclusion...
For now Le Sia is BYOB, making it one of the better restaurant deals in the neighborhood, and also one of the most exciting. With a restaurant right in the East Village, the owners clearly have faith that people other than first generation Chinese immigrants will dig the foods of their hometowns — it’s pure genius that may pay off in a big way.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Le Sia opens today on 7th Street