The Christmas and chile-pepper lights will live on at 93 First Ave.!
As we noted at the end of 2020, Milon, the Indian-Bangladeshi restaurant that first opened here on First Avenue at Sixth Street in 1982, had quietly gone out of business.
However, reliable sources tell us that longtime and like-minded neighbor Panna II has rented the Milon space, and will expand into the adjacent restaurant in the months ahead.
Per our tipster: "It sounds like the kitchen will be eliminated from Milon, and that side will be one large seating area." (So much for the urban legend that all the Indian restaurants along Sixth Street use the same kitchen!)
Panna II eventually reopened for takeout and delivery last year and later indoor dining at 25 percent. They temporarily closed again when Cuomo's second indoor dining ban went into effect early December.
While Milon and Panna II had been catering to the Instagram crowd in recent years, locals still find the restaurants a comfort on evenings away from the weekends. Some have feared that the indoor-dining ban could mark the end of the so-called Curry Row. But it appears Panna II will live on.