It looks like the team behind Indochine and Acme have set their sights on a large space at 151 Essex St. previously occupied by Laugh Lounge. According to paperwork filed with Community Board 3, Jean-Marc Houmard, Jon Neidich and Huy Chi Le are applying for a liquor license in the former comedy club venue.
The trade name of the restaurant is “South Central.” The plan is to serve a menu of small plates described as “both familiar and creative with an emphasis on high quality produce and inventive juxtaposition of ingredients.” Acme’s “head mixologist” is creating a cocktail list featuring tequila and mezcal. The operators are asking for operating hours of 6 p.m.-4 a.m. There would be seats for 120 people. Two bars are planned — one on the main floor, one on the lower level.
Acme, on Great Jones Street, opened quietly but has become one of the hottest reservations downtown. The reviews have been mostly glowing and, as Pete Wells noted in the Times, the crowd is very fashionable:
Acme doesn’t look or act like a restaurant for gastronomic mandarins, which is one of its more appealing features. The owners have cultivated a constituency among the kind of gallery circulators and style trackers who turn up in Paper magazine. During Fashion Week, the arching mirror that runs nearly the length of the dining room reflected men in expensive-looking flannel and women in expensive-looking everything, nearly all of them angular and underfed.
See the sample menu below:
The proposal will be heard at the May 20th meeting of CB3’s SLA Committee.
