Here’s a roundup of recent Lower East Side restaurant news:
Grilled Cheese Incident is a pop-up operating out of Boss Tweeds at 155 Essex St. Marc Lande came up with the concept, in part, as a tribute to the Lower East Side’s colorful history. Sandwiches such as the “Lucky Luciano” and the “Bugsy Segal” are based on stories his dad used to tell him about the mobsters who ruled Essex Street back in the day. If you mention The Lo-Down, Marc says you’ll get $3 off any sandwich. You can check out the full menu here.
Speaking of incidents, Spaghetti Incident is now open at 231 Eldridge St. This place is an offshoot of Malatesta Trattoria, the popular West Village restaurant. The pasta spot is open for dinner seven nights a week.
In the Post, Steve Cuozzo has little good to say about Mathieu Palombino’s La Gamelle. The new restaurant (formerly Bowery Diner) “shows every sign of an owner stuck with a lease he doesn’t know what to do with,” Cuozzo writes.
Ivan Ramen has added some new menu items. There’s Herbie’s International, described as a “Catskill & Canarsie throwback special,” a Chinese-style roasted pork sandwich on a miso garlic toasted hero with duck sauce. Weekend brunch options include cold ramen and even a lox and bagel.
The Village Voice takes a look at Jason Wagner’s inventive wine list at Fung Tu.
I dined at la gamelle. Nothing really bad about it but nothing really good either. One would enjoy a much better time at the McNally place up the street. You could hear your dining partners though.
So so, really bad service. Never got a wine menu, we asked, and the waiter forgot. Restaurant was empty but he was totally preoccupied with other tables. How fucked up do you got to be to not give a wine menu to a table THAT ASKED for it in an empty restaurant? Gone in 6 months if not sooner.
Read the Post’s review of La Gamelle, and as bad as it is, I think he went easy on them. What a waste of space. I can’t for the life of me understand why this place charges so much for so little. Is their profit model based on just conning unsuspecting tourists. No one who lives nearby would make this a regular stop, not even that special evening place.
Maybe it’s the Bowery — just not a good place for a restaurant when 18-wheel trucks vibrate the walls, soot and smoke from all the traffic coats your food, and the garbage is all around any entrance. Hiding inside just seems temporary and wrong. Rebelle is next to empty, Pearl & Ash is no longer a hot spot, Pauleners is a ghost town, and The General is long gone. Other than Cava, if you want to eat on the Bowery, stay above Houston Street.
Cherci medi is good. When I ate at la gamell the bartender was sleeping w his head on the bar.