Glaze Teriyaki Grill has opened up near Union Square. Their signature teriyaki entrees ($6.75 to $9.50) include chargrilled chicken thigh or breast, Japanese BBQ hanger steak, fresh-never-frozen organic salmon, boneless pork loin, wok vegetables or soy marinated tofu. It’s on 4th Ave. between 13th and 14th.
What was briefly Rulin hand-pulled noodles on our 13th St. block has suddenly transformed into Taco Lane. Here is the write-up: “Taco Lane, the Asian taco bistro from the couple behind Brooklyn’s beloved Noodle Lane, is officially open in Union Square in the space that was formerly known as Rulin. Taco Lane is owned and operated by Li and her husband, Chris Wang, who have backgrounds in finance and technology, respectively. However, they made a significant shift in their careers to pursue food full-time. Li’s story is one of remarkable resilience spanning from her childhood in China and Flatbush to her becoming a chef. After completing her training at the Institute of Culinary Education while simultaneously working in finance, the birth of her son, Jackson, served as a catalyst for her decision to dedicate her life to the culinary arts. This pivotal moment ultimately led to the successful establishment of Noodle Lane at Smorgasburg in 2011. Subsequently, a brick-and-mortar location was opened in Park Slope in 2023, and now, the latest of the “Lane” locations has arrived in the form of Taco Lane.”
It’s been a while, but our site is up and running again, and we hope to make it fun and informative.
The former TGI Fridays on Union Square East will become a standalone site for Spacious, the co-working space that already operates within Corkbuzz from 8-4 every day. Details here.
For the first time in decades, there are no Italian restaurants on University Place.
Comfort food joint Chat ‘n Chew shut its doors this week after 22 years in the neighborhood, but the owner plans to reopen it as an Italian restaurant.
The diner-style eatery at 10 E. 16th St. near Fifth Avenue will relaunch in two weeks as Little Sal’s, said Ethan Silverman, son of owner Andrew Silverman.
“[Chat ‘n Chew] lost some of it’s energy, and now we’re getting it back,” Ethan Silverman said. “It’s going to be a Chat ‘n Chew on steroids. It’ll have traditional Italian food like chicken parm, eggplant parm and pastas.”
Silverman compared the concept of Little Sal’s to New York City restaurants like Sauce and Parm, where it’s “casual and family oriented — selling wine by the glass and not the bottle,” he said.
Andrew Silverman also co-owns Flatiron’s City Crab and Barbounia restaurants.
Little Sal’s will open as a pop-up in two weeks for a test run, and may remain open permanently depending on how well it does, Silverman said.
As for Chat ‘n Chew’s abrupt closure, Silverman said the team had known that they would be closing for a while, but hadn’t made it public.
“If people took a look at the place recently, they’d see that the staff was slowly kind of diminishing,” Silverman said.
“We’ve been in Union Square for a while, and we’re going to come back with energy,” he continued. “But [the concept] will be [in] keeping with the people who work and live in the neighborhood.”
Next week (April 22 to April 26), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors inside the building. We will be work on the new sidewalks around the building as well.
The following week (April 29 to May 3), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors.
This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, April 20th for interior and sidewalk activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City.