CB3 SLA | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side

Liquor Applicants: Clinton Street Baking, Chinolita, Mr. Fong’s and More

Mars Bar Returns, Saro Bistro Closes? Bar License News for May

Here’s our first look at the bars and restaurants seeking to obtain or upgrade alcohol permits in May, including the possible resurrection of Mars Bar.

Pies ‘n’ Thighs Coming to Canal Street, and Tiny Fork Might Be Over

Planned at 1 Ludlow: Cocktails by Angel’s Share Vets and Roman-Style Pizza

Big plans for the small ground-level and subterranean spaces in the triangular building at the intersection of Ludlow, Canal and Division streets are up for review tonight.

Liquor License Applicants Go Before CB3 Committee Tonight

Tonight, the State Liquor Authoritiy subcommittee of Community Board 3 will consider this month’s applications from local bars and restaurants seeking new licenses, renewals and changes to their existing permits. Among the crowd: operators who want to open a gaming parlor (think interactive video games, not gambling) that serves alcohol, as well as the owners of the Grey Lady, who are looking to take over the old Interstate Food & Liquor space on Orchard Street. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at Rockwood Music Hall, 185 Orchard St. Click through for a roundup of tonight’s docket.

Nightlife Notes: Liquor License Applications

Black Tree Sandwich Shop, a veteran of the New Amsterdam Market and currently serving out of a Brooklyn bar, will open as a proper restaurant on Orchard Street.

The liquor licensing subcommittee of Community Board 3 meets Monday night to consider this month’s round of alcohol permit applications. A few noteworthy agenda items now have some details posted online (see below). The presentations by applicants begin at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 at the JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. Fifth St. (at Bowery). Read the full agenda here.

131 Orchard St.: Matthew Roff, Macnair Sillick and Anthony Spangler plan to open Black Tree, a sandwich shop, in a former retail store. The proprietors have peddled their sandwiches, featuring locally sourced ingredients, at events such as the New Amsterdam market. The Orchard Street restaurant will be their first permanent brick-and-mortar restaurant. They plan to be open until midnight during the week and 2 a.m. on weekends, with 10 tables seating 20 diners. They are applying for a full bar permit. Roff is the principal in four other establishments with active licenses, including Brooklyn’s The Crown Inn, where Black Tree’s sandwiches are also served.

Update: Ludlow Manor Shuttered Indefinitely

The only lights on at Ludlow Manor, for now, are the reflections from across Delancey Street.

Following up on last week’s news that Ludlow Manor had its alcohol permit suspended, we checked in with the State Liquor Authority to see what’s next for Delancey Street’s new triplex mega-bar.

Here’s the upshot: the fledgling nightlife spot may reopen, but it’s unclear when.

After SLA authorities issued a stern summons to owner Tomasz Dyszkiewicz on Dec. 19 to appear before its board in January, Dyszkiewicz responded by pleading “conditional no contest” to the charges leveled against his business, and offered to pay a $10,000 fine, according to SLA documents obtained by The Lo-Down. The complaint included accusations that on at least two different occasions in November, police officers observed Ludlow Manor serving alcohol at bars on the second and third floors that were not licensed. (The club was licensed for a first-floor bar only.)

EMM Group’s Plans for 199 Bowery Approved: Bakery, Asian/Fusion, Jazz

The team behind Abe & Arthur's, SL and other successful ventures persuaded Community Board 3 to support their liquor license for the enormous space that formerly housed mega-club BLVD/Crash Mansion.

Eugene Remm and Mark Birnbaum, dubbed “The New Kings of New York Nightlife” by Forbes, frequent hosts to celebrities and all-around restaurant-industry “it” guys, had a hot date last night.

For the better part of an hour, the stylishly outfitted, articulate partners hovered at the edge of a folding table full of decider-types in a fluourescent-lit meeting room on East 5th Street. They listed their accomplishments and made their case that they should be entrusted with a full bar permit for a new venture at 199 Bowery, the former home of mega-club/neighborhood nightmare BLVD/Crash Mansion.

It worked.

Coming Up Next Month at CB3’s SLA Hearing

Is there a revival in the works for Ha'Chi, the Thompson LES Hotel's Asian fusion restaurant that opened in July and closed a few weeks ago?

Next month’s agenda for Community Board 3’s liquor license hearing is fresh off the presses this afternoon, and there are a few items of note:

Papaya Restaurant, Inc., is seeking a wine and beer license at 249A Broome Street, between Ludlow and Orchard.
Ha’Chi Enterprises, which closed its Asian-fusion restaurant in the Thompson LES Hotel at 185 Orchard St. after just a few months, is seeking a wine and beer license at that same address.
An establishment called Repair, at 165 Ludlow St., is seeking a full bar license.
Los Feliz, at 109 Ludlow St., is seeking permission to do alterations.
Foundation, at 137 Essex, is seeking a new full-bar permit.
The owners of Ludlow Manor, the new triplex bar at 95 Delancey, will be back to plead their case for additional bars within their huge space, which opened last weekend with only one permitted bar.

The meeting takes place Dec. 12 at 6 p.m. at the JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. 5th St. at Bowery.

See the full agenda after the jump.

Nippon Sushi Operating Without Health Dept. Permit

Nippon Sushi, which opened in May at 121 Ludlow St., was approved for a beer and wine license but does not have a health department operating license, according to officials.

Last month Community Board 3 voted to support a liquor license for Nippon Sushi, 121 Ludlow Street. But yesterday we discovered the restaurant is lacking something else — an operating license from New York City’s health department.

At its October meeting, the board approved a beer and wine permit on several conditions for the small sushi joint, including that it operate as a full-service Japanese restaurant, not host live music and close at 10:30 p.m. during the week and 12:30 a.m. on the weekends.

However, Nippon Sushi, which opened for business six months ago, apparently has never received an operating permit from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which is responsible for inspecting and grading restaurants.

Details Emerge About Ludlow Manor, Triplex Bar on Delancey

Ludlow Manor, at the corner of Delancey and Ludlow, is scheduled to open later this month.

This morning, the NY Post reported that Ludlow Manor, the new outsized bar nearing completion at the corner of Delancey and Ludlow streets, has some celebrity cachet in backer Luc Carl, former manager of LES bar St. Jerome’s, and off-again, on-again playmate of local sweetheart Lady Gaga. From the Page Six story:

The hot spot will include a tapas restaurant, a rock club run by Carl and a revolving DJ roster at the rooftop bar, which will feature a retractable roof and smoking area. “I want sexy people that care how their hair looks,” said Carl.

Friends of the metal rocker DJ, who plans to publish a book about losing weight while drinking heavily (“The Drunk Diet,” due out March 2012), got a private preview of his new 480-patron venue at a Halloween party Monday night. Judging from the Twitter chatter, it was quite the scene, with music by the Rivington Rebels.

News of Carl’s involvement was just the latest development in a busy run-up to opening day for the bar’s backers, who include Georgie Seville and the folks behind The Delancey, another rooftop bar just a few blocks east.

CB3 Wire: New Bars Proposed, Approved

At Cheeky's Sandwiches on Orchard, you can soon get a beer with your po' boy.

Community Board 3’s October meeting agendas will be released later today. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the Lower East Side restaurants going for liquor licenses when the SLA Committee convenes Oct. 17.

A place called Yunnan Kitchen is applying for a wine and beer license at 79 Clinton St., where Falai Panetteria is currently located. As we have reported, there’s some speculation that the Italian bakery might move into a larger space in the same building. Owner Iacopo Falai told the Times he would keep the cae open, while closing the more formal Falai Restaurant a few doors to the north on Clinton Street.

An establishment named “Salita” is apparently taking over another space on the neighborhood’s so-called “restaurant row.” They’re looking for a full liquor license at 60 Clinton St., where Spanish restaurant 1492 is now. The space, incidentally, boasts one of the LES’s more inviting backyard gardens.

The troubled storefront at 189 East Houston (most recently Masala Twist) is about to get a new tenant. “HSC Clam” will be going for a wine and beer license.

Liquor License Apps: Gaia, Mexicue, Cheeky’s, Saro

Beer or wine with that braseola panini? Gaia Cafe seeks a permit.

The agenda for the July meeting of the Community Board 3 SLA Committee is out, and there are requests from a few local establishments worth noting:

Gaia Italian Cafe, 251 E. Houston St., is seeking a beer and wine license. This cafe, run by recent Italian immigrant Gaia Bagnasacco and stocked with shipments of meat and cheese imported weekly from her home country, has gained many loyal patrons in the community since opening in February.
Mexicue, 106 Forsyth St., is seeking a beer and wine license. As we reported earlier this month, the Mexican/barbecue fusion food truck is going brick and mortar in the LES later this year; its owners signed a 10-year-lease for a 2,000-square-foot restaurant between Grand and Broome streets. Another Mexicue is also slated for Midtown West, set to open next month.
Cheeky Sandwiches, 35 Orchard St., is seeking a beer and wine license. Proprietor Din Yates brought New Orleans po’ boys and other Southern fare to the LES in early 2010, and just announced plans to expand to Brooklyn’s DeKalb Market.
Saro, 102 Norfolk St., is seeking to upgrade its beer and wine permit to a full liquor license. This tiny bistro, which showcases Balkan food, has worked hard to establish itself in the neighborhood since opening in November.

The meeting takes place Monday, July 18, at the JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. 5th St. at 6:30 p.m.

CB3’s SLA Agenda: New Restaurant at East Broadway & Clinton

A bodega once occupied the corner commercial space at 221 East Broadway.

Community Board 3 is out with its January agenda. Looking over the January 10th SLA Committee docket, we see a few interesting items. First off, a restaurant seems to be in the works on the corner of East Broadway and Clinton streets. The info on CB3’s agenda is sketchy. A place called “Pigeon Cafe” wants a full bar in this location, which until a few months ago, was a bodega. The former Mayflower Hotel building has been undergoing a major face lift. The coffee shop, Dora, opened in the adjacent ground floor space last month.

Los Feliz Partner Taking Over Bunny Chow Space?

More information on some of the applicants going before Community Board 3’s SLA Committee tonight…

As we noted when the agenda came out a few days ago, there appears to be an ownership change at Bunny Chow the year-old South African restaurant at 74 Orchard. According to documents filed with CB3, it seems that new owner is Robert Boose, part of the team that opened Ludlow Street taqueria Los Feliz.

There’s not a lot of information on the application — no clue what kind of food Boose and partner Robert Blatt plan to serve. They’re looking to transfer Bunny Chow’s full liquor license and be open seven days a week, noon-4am. There would be recorded music and an “occasional dj.”