UES Eateries Accused Of Racism For Not Delivering To Harlem
Teen Pulls BB Gun On Cops, Gets Shot In The Face
Adding In "Discouraged Workers," Jobless Rate Is 17.5%
NY Post Finds One Man Who Sides With Fort Hood Shooter
Reports: Taconic Crash Driver Was Regular Drinker, Pot Smoker
We really enjoyed reading about the many restaurant incarnations at 206 East 63rd Street in the NY Times, because there are definitely locations that we think are cursed and pity/salute new management that tries to make a go of it. At 206 East 63rd Street, the eleventh restaurant in 30 years, Haikara Grill, a kosher AND Japanese steakhouse, has been around for a year, and the building's owner, J.Z. Morris, even reduced the restaurant's rent ($15,000) because of the tainted history. The NY Times explains what used to be there:
Yikes. But isn't the statistic for new restaurants succeeding very low, like 10% or something (if you know what it is, let us know!)?Le Premier was followed by a variant, Bistro Pascal; Gnolo, which was opened by a former headwaiter at Elaine's, a restaurant that Mr. Talese is more accustomed to; Moon's, which was owned by a cousin of the Times columnist William Safire; John Clancy's East (The Times wrote that the fish served there had not fared well on their uptown migration from the restaurant's progenitor in Greenwich Village); Lolabelle ("loopy service"); Napa Valley Grill; Tucci; and Peaches, which Marla Maples opened with a partner, Bobby Ochs (who, as Mr. Talese learned, is not related to the family that owns The Times but has another claim to fame: his father, a Bronx dentist, made the false teeth that Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary, was wearing when he was assassinated).
A location we used to think was cursed (or a front for a mob establishment, hence a number of fires) was 222 Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, where Miracle Grill seems to be doing well. Also, 247-249 West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side seems unlucky, though we think West 72nd between West End and Broadway isn't that great a strip. What are some locations where you've seen restaurants come and go.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
1711 2nd Avenue between E88th and E89th, which now houses the Cinco de Mayo Taqueria, changed its face 4 times in the course of the two years I lived nearby. It was a Cuban place, then BBQ place, then fish and steak house and now a taqueria.
There's a place on E 86th st between 1st and York that everyone in the neighborhood believed was cursed: it was an Italian joint, then a salon, then a gourmet food store, a pizza place and god knows what else. Now it's an orthodox place that advertizes early bird specials and seems to be okay - it's lasted a couple of years now. Maybe you can beat the curse!
On the southeast corner of 23rd St and 10th Ave is a place so cursed that after two or three restaurants tried to use the space in the last 7 years, it has been empty for the last three. I don't think it's the neighborhood, though. Don Giovanni's, next door, does really well and the Empire Diner (which should really just go out of business- who knows how they are able to keep it going) on 22nd and 10th is still around. New restaurants open in the area all the time. Who knows? Sigh.
What WAS the name of the first joint at 222 7th Ave. in the Slope? It operated, seemingly smoothly, although seldom crowded, for several years in the 80s and early 90s. Perhaps the first slope restaurant to serve out of doors.
I liked 222 7th Ave.'s Cuchina Cusco incarnation.
12 East 22nd Street is similarly cursed. In the past 5 years or so, it has been Banana & Caviar, Rocco's, and one or two others I can't recall.
220 Park Ave. S. (18th St.) is now a Haru (which I predict will last), but it's also been 3 or 4 different restaurants in the past 5 years.
I think part of the problem with the above two addresses is rent. These are both good locations, with lots of foot traffic, etc., but I'm sure the rents are astronomical. That would leave a new restaurant little wiggle room to get its sea legs. If it's not immediately profitable, it's a goner. And with the turnover, I'm sure the rent goes up, and so the cycle continues . . .