The original location of New York mini-chain Heartland Brewery is slated to close on January 1. The Post reports that the building at 35 Union Square West has a new owner who is asking for more than the Heartland team can afford to pay. Owner Jon Bloostein says that when he opened the pub in 1994, the rent was $150,000 a year, but now the new landlord is asking for about $2 million a year.
Sal Anthony’s Italian restaurant, which recently took over the space of that unremarkable Mexican spot on East 13th St. (which used to be the original Crunch gym), has closed.
As Chris Cannon, formerly a partner in Convivio and Alto, prepares to return to Manhattan this fall with a new restaurant called All’onda, In a market crowded with salumi boards, how will this new venture fit in or stand out? To get some perspective, Eater.com asked Chris:
What’s the difference between All’onda and every other Italian restaurant in New York? I think we’re taking…effectively, what we’re trying to do is take Venetian cuisine that’s always been a cuisine that is a meeting point of a number of different cultures — as most cuisine actually in Italy is — and Venetian cuisine has always been a meeting point with Eastern cuisine and culture. I think that what we are trying to do is basically take Venetian cuisine and a lot of seafood cuisine in Venice and take a very sophisticated Japanese lens and apply it to traditional Italian cuisine. So, I would say that you take a traditional dish and really not changing the basic components of traditional Italian cuisine, but changing in the sense that you’re taking the same ingredients and treating them a little bit differently and making them more modern, more interesting.
Big news: The Food Emporium at 14th and Broadway will die in 2023 and be replaced by a new branch of Target. It’s interesting to note how few “old-fashioned” supermarkets are surviving in this neighbo
Serafina at University and 12th has closed after less than one year. It will soon be replaced by the eighth location of Bagel Pub. The nearest other location is at 6th Ave. and 9th St.
The upscaling of the neighborhood continues as Luke’s Lobster opens its doors on University between 13th and 14th, where Crumbs Bakery used to be. Tasty…but pricey.
In Union Square Park, the 16th Street transverse and eastern plaza are now open to pedestrians, complete with additional park benches along the north sides of the transverse. New asphalt pavers and crushed bluestone allow the stately elm trees along the transverse to thrive while removing the previous trip hazard, and the entrance to the center lawn is now accessible to wheelchairs. The park’s new and expanded 15,000-square-foot play space is nearing completion with Parks Department final site inspections scheduled in the next few weeks. Soon, area kids will have endless hours of fun in this creative, colorful and beautifully landscaped play space designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. The North End Project is 91% complete and the remainder of the project, including new restroom facilities and the Pavilion, are expected to be finished by the end of the year.