Karaoke Boho has struggled to open at the old Crunch location on East 13th St. for six months. Now a slight change: in addition to karaoke, the store is offering a full Korean restaurant, some competition for the adorable Do Sirak on our block.
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.”
Looks like Tong Thai Brasserie is ready to open on 13th just east of University. The menu looks much more interesting than that of the average Thai place, and they will be doing delivery as well.
Oct. 29 is the date for the park’s signature fall celebration to raise vital funds for the district’s cherished Union Square Park. Highlighting the district’s best restaurants and the vibrant Greenmarket, enjoy tastings from renowned local chefs paired with classic and innovative drinks.
Our students have moved into the dormitory which is on the top eight floors with its own entrance. The first day of classes was August 26th and a new semester is now underway. It is anticipated that the academic portion of the building (first eight floors) will be completed in time for this year’s second semester. We will keep you posted. Some of you can see our green roof which is also an exciting addition.
Next week (September 9 to September 13), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on the academic floors inside the building.
The following week (September 16 to September 20), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on academic floors.
Sad to see that Patisserie Fouet on 13th St. is no more. It closed suddenly and without much explanation. Perhaps an end-of-year lease situation. They do have another location at 776 9th Ave at 52nd St.
