Tiki Bar On Essex | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side

It’s Last Call at PKNY

The tiki bar formerly known as Painkiller is closing in the next two weeks.

PKNY Tiki Bar Earns a B on Health Dept. Re-inspection

The LES tiki bar formerly known as Painkiller apparently has addressed most of the sanitation issues that earned it 101 violation points from the city health department earlier this month. In its second inspection in 10 days on Monday, the artisan cocktail outlet on Essex Street earned only 24 points, a B on the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s graded scale.

Painkiller vs. Pusser’s: Rum Company Responds to Critics

Over the last six days, since we broke the news about LES bar Painkiller losing its name in trademark litigation, bartenders and tiki geeks around the world have weighed in across the web to criticize the legal action and propose a boycott of the British Virgin Islands rum manufacturer that sued.

Last night, the founder and owner of Pusser’s Rum Ltd., Charles Tobias, finally responded.

Lawsuit Costs Painkiller its Name and Website

Painkiller, the popular Essex Street tiki bar, plans to change its name to PKNY.

Painkiller, the Essex Street tiki bar that became a poster child for the citywide artisan cocktail movement when it opened last May, has been forced to change its name and give up its website as part of the settlement of a federal lawsuit in which a British Virgin Islands rum manufacturer alleged trademark infringement, according to court documents.

In the lawsuit filed April 12 in U.S. District Court, plaintiff Pusser’s Rum Ltd., which sells rum, cocktail mixers and rum products such as cakes under the brand name “Painkiller” sued tiki bar owners Giuseppe Gonzalez and Richard Boccato, claiming irreparable harm to its brand, unfair competition and unfair business practices, according to court documents on file in the Southern District of New York.