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Grub Street

Edited by Josh Ozersky with Daniel Maurer

All Posts Tagged: ‘the box’

NewsFeed 

6/23/08

3:30 PM

The Box Still Revels in Cocaine and Sex Toys

simon hammerstein

Bored by swords.Getty Images

If you haven’t been to the Box lately, things are the same as ever there. In a LiveJournal post, a one Miss Bunnyhead Darling, after gloating that she got a $1,000 table for free, assures that MC Raven is still up to his old tricks: “Everyone in the crowd was totally fried & the MC… would periodically yell, ‘Do more coke, you fuckers!’” Simon Hammerstein, too, is still striving for crassness. In a BlackBook.com piece about Coney Island sword swallower Heather Holliday, author Jessica Pilot (she of the bagel-scooping jeremiad) writes: “Recently she performed at the Box, the exclusive Lower East Side burlesque nightclub. Asked by one of the owners if she could replace her sword with a dildo before hitting the stage, she politely declined. Heather knew better.” Incidentally we hear Hammerstein and Serge Becker are still scouring Manhattan for a building with a 10,000-square-foot basement and rooftop that they can turn into a booze-serving bathhouse. No word on whether the saunas will be outfitted with S&M gear like the bathrooms at the Box.

World’s Youngest Sword Swallower Reveals All [BlackBook]
Miss Bunnyhead Darling [LiveJournal]

NewsFeed 

5/30/08

2:45 PM

Is This Serge Becker’s New Restaurant?

serge becker's restaurant

This is going to be good.Photo: Daniel Maurer

A source close to D.J. duo A Touch of Class says that Oliver Stumm and Dominique Clausen, both Zurich natives, are collaborating with Serge Becker on what will be a Swiss restaurant in the space at 212 Lafayette Street. The building formerly housed Eastanah, the Malaysian restaurant adjacent to Becker’s cash cow La Esquina (Becker, of course, also has a hand in 205 and the Box, nearby). We have yet to receive confirmation from Becker’s rep, and, by the looks of their Website, Stumm and Clausen are currently gigging (and researching?) in Switzerland, but when we cruised by the construction site earlier today, a bar was under construction. The SLA's site says only that one 212 Lafayette LLC applied for a liquor license in March and it's currently pending. Becker is also of Swiss heritage, so if anyone will know how to pull off this unique concept (or any concept!), it’s him. Stay tuned for more.

Neighborhood Watch 

5/ 1/08

3:10 PM

Box Not That Cool? Kiev Curse Lingers in the East Village

Astoria: Ovelia's added its lunchtime fav, the Kobe Beef slider, to its happy hour menu. [Joey in Astoria]
Chelsea: 1 Oak is hosting a fundraiser tonight for pint-size victims of AIDS in Africa, and one of the raffle prizes is a session with Diddy's stylist. Way to help while keeping it trendy guys. [Down by the Hipster]
Coney Island: The Island is about to get cheesier, but in a bad way, with help from the Hard Rock Cafe, Virgin Records, and Madame Tussaud's. [Brownstoner]
East Village: The American Grill/GoGo Curry hybrid has given up its space to new owners and Asian cuisine, but is there any hope for the next incarnation of the corner spot with a "Kiev Curse?" [Eater]
Lower East Side: A poll of over 100 people concludes the Box has become sort of lame with one commenter noting "I know clubland regulars who get hassled at the door, while friggin Russians and Lithuanians who can barely speak English have bribed their way in." Not cool. [Down by the Hipster]

In Other Magazines 

3/31/08

11:00 AM

Simon Glammerstein Sports Another $3,000 Suit

A Jesus beard deserves a Jesus pose.Photo: New York Times Magazine

Box boss Simon Hammerstein helped kick off a wave of restaurateur ogling back when he and David Chang were photographed for Esquire’s “Angry Young Men” spread last September, and this weekend the Times went back to the well by dressing Hammerstein up in a $2,950 Duncan Quinn suit (they let him keep his ratty sneakers for feet cred). It looks like this trend will never end, so we’re just going to try to suck it up. As long as we don’t see Michael Psilakis walking the runway next Fashion Week.

Related: The Fusionistas [NYT]
When Chefs Play Dress-Up

NewsFeed 

3/ 7/08

8:30 AM

Simon Hammerstein Waxes Beard (Talks About It, Not Actually Waxes It)

pickle

The "Jesus beard."Getty Images

Jada Yuan cornered the normally press-shy Simon Hammerstein at City Opera’s spring gala, and among other things he revealed that during his birthday party at his club the Box, he was dragged onstage to have his clothes ripped off (and you thought a shirtless Anthony Bourdain was bad…). What we really love, though, are his musings about what a reporter from the Times of London once called his “Jesus beard.”

Read more»

NewsFeed 

1/23/08

12:47 PM

La Esquina and Box Player Sentenced to Prison and $35,000 Fine

The saga of Cordell Lochin, the maybe-sort-of partner in the Box and La Esquina who was convicted of drug-smuggling charges, has finally come to somewhat of a conclusion. According to Guest of a Guest, a judge has sentenced Lochin to 39 months in prison and a $35,000 fine. That doesn’t fare well for partner Serge Becker, who expressed hope in a letter to the court that Lochin be allowed to “continue his work while paying his debt.”

Cordell Lochin Sentenced for 39 Months, Fined $35,000 [Guest of a Guest]

Earlier: La Esquina to Open in Miami; Becker's Right-Hand Man in Legal Limbo
Serge Becker: Drug-Dealing ‘Consultant’ Is Not a Co-Owner of the Box, La Esquina

NewsFeed 

1/ 9/08

2:15 PM

La Esquina to Open in Miami; Becker's Right-Hand Man in Legal Limbo

This letterhead should convince the judge.

Ah, the tangled web of nightlife ownership. A while back, Serge Becker, part-owner of The Box and La Esquina, told us in a statement that Cordell Lochin, the young scenester who presented himself as a partner in Becker’s restaurants before being convicted of drug-conspiracy charges, was merely an “indispensable advisor.” A December 15 memo from a government attorney calls that assertion into question, pointing at an undated letter from Becker that describes Lochin as “more than just a business partner.” That letter pleads for leniency because his company is “in the design stage of our second location of ‘La Esquina’ in Miami Beach at ‘the Gale’ hotel.” Exciting news, innit?

Read more»

Celebrity Settings 

1/ 3/08

9:00 AM

Dave Chappelle Tiffs With the Wife at Coffee Shop, ‘Entourage’-ers Talk Movie at 1 Oak?

Maxim Steak

It wasn't a celebration at Coffee Shop.Photo: Getty Images

This week’s juiciest bit of celeb-sighting gossip was, of course, the Post’s report that after a performer dumped a drink on Demi and Ashton, Box honcho Simon Hammerstein sent an e-mail to his partner and a GM saying, “I can’t stand those two” — apparently because they’re “so far up their own arses” and “don’t spend anything” — “and I applaud whoever spilt a drink on them.” We’re thinking Kid Rock got kinder treatment when he went to Southern Hospitality, or there would’ve been a Tommy Lee–style throwdown.

Read more»

Mediavore 

1/ 2/08

10:00 AM

Demi and Ashton Not the Box's Favorite Patrons; PM Closing for January

Box owner Simon Hammerstein is happy one of his performers spilled a drink on Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher this week. [NYP]

2008 probably won’t be the year that sees the establishment of a large, indoor public market along the lines of London’s Borough Market or San Francisco’s farmer’s market. [NYT]
Related: Batali Shows a Little Leg to Sex Up New Amsterdam Public

Gael Greene puts forth her list of culinary predictions for the New Year, including this gem: “Jeffrey Chodorow and Frank Bruni will have a food fight in Madison Square Park televised by the Food Network. If Bruni loses he will be required to review restaurants in Des Moines for six months. If Chodorow is the loser he will be forbidden to open a new restaurant for three weeks.” [Insatiable Critic]

Read more»

Celebrity Settings 

12/18/07

3:30 PM

Tom and Gisele Lock Lips at Nobu, ‘Full House’ Cast and the B-52s Hit Bowery Hotel!?

Earlier this week we linked to a Daily News item claiming Padma Lakshmi rudely refused complimentary dishes from Fiamma’s chef. A commenter wrote, “I was at Fiamma the night Padma was dining there and it absolutely did NOT go down that way. When the dishes arrived at the table, she thanked them profusely and apologized for being too full to eat any of them!” Whatever happened, Padma was just one of many celebs to chow down (or at least show up) at local restaurants this week, and here’s our gossip-column compendium of just who went where.

Read more»

Celebrity Settings 

12/11/07

3:30 PM

Ben Stiller Crashes a Party at Fiamma, Penélope Cruz Makes Out at Socialista

Penelope Cruz

She only got in because she knows Javier Bardem.Photo: WireImages

Every Friday a notable New Yorker tells us where they’ve been eating, but where are the rest of them chowing down? Starting this week we’ll sort through the gossip columns à la Ils Vont (RIP) to tell you who’s been seen where (casual sightings only — boring galas, vodka launches, and pluggy appearances don’t count). We’ll eventually compile a ranking of restaurants most often visited by celebs. Not that you care about that sort of thing! Oh, but if you do, won’t you please leave your own sightings in the comments?

Read more»

NewsFeed 

11/19/07

1:30 PM

The Box Is Looking for a Roommate

"The downstairs neighbors are a little weird."Photo: Daniel Maurer

Considering they blew $2 million on the place, we assumed the proprietors of the Box had the building all to themselves, but apparently even the hottest club in the city can’t afford to live without a roommate. To that end, if you want a nice quiet workspace right above the S&M shows, it can be yours for a little over $115,000 per month year. According to the broker’s listing, “all uses [will be] considered”— so feel free to set up a fake VIP room and convince eager cover-payers they’re actually inside of the Box. After all, remember Noel Ashman’s “Upstairs at Studio 54”?

Walker Malloy [Official site]

NewsFeed 

11/ 8/07

12:08 PM

The Box Appears on ‘Gossip Girl,’ Officially Jumps the Shark

The bar.Courtesy of CW

We thought the Box lost its remaining counterculture cred when the Times, of all things, called it out on being pretty much any other club. Not so! The real point of no return came last night when it appeared, in the guise of club Victrola, on teenybopper drama du jour Gossip Girl. The place must’ve loosened its rules against interior photography, because the first scene has Chuck Bass (a son every bit as wayward as Simon Hammerstein) explaining why his father should support him by investing in the burlesque club: “No judgments. Pure escape. What happens at Victrola stays at Victrola” (until the Health Department shows up, anyway).

Read more»

Mediavore 

10/31/07

10:00 AM

Big Dreams for Chodorow's Next Showstopper; Perv Attacking Women Outside the Box

Cuozzo fantasizes about the possible successes Jeffrey Chodorow could develop if he signs a lease on the enormous space at Broadway and 63rd Street. They include stellar risotto, traditional dim sum, and haute Lebanese — if only he doesn’t “blow it on another howler like Rocco’s or a limping dud like Kobe Club.” [NYP]

A Queens dumpling celebrity, a chef in northern China before transplanting to the U.S., has been persuaded to supply her specialty to TKettle on St. Marks Place. Get there early, though; she’s only agreed to hand-make 1,000 per day for the bubble-tea shop. [Eat for Victory/VV]

Two young female patrons of the Box have been abducted from outside the club and raped on separate occasions in less than a month, and the predator has not been apprehended. [NYP]

Read more»

NewsFeed 

10/ 4/07

9:30 AM

The Box: The City's Unhealthiest Restaurant?

The Box

The Box, prior to failing a health inspection.Photo: Mike Duva

We still don’t know what was behind the August 24 shutdown of the Box. Was it partner-or-is-he-just-a-consultant Cordell Lochin going to trial for his involvement in a weed-dealing ring? (“Page Six”’s initial account of patrons being searched for drugs has been called into question.) Or was it the health inspection? That night’s evaluation yielded violations totaling a whopping 168 out of 175 points — the most out of all 23,126 restaurants in the Department of Health’s online database. Let’s put this in perspective, shall we? The infamous KFC–Taco Bell on Sixth Avenue received 62 points less. One of the violations: “Sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.” Or were the toilets just backed up from dubious flushing?

Related: Restaurant Inspection Information: The Box [DOH]
Earlier: Serge Becker: Drug-Dealing “Consultant” Is Not a Co-Owner of the Box, La Esquina [NYM]

NewsFeed 

9/28/07

7:26 PM

Serge Becker: Drug-Dealing ‘Consultant’ Is Not a Co-Owner of the Box, La Esquina

Guest of a Guest broke the story yesterday that Cordell Lochin — thought be a partner in Serge Becker’s joints La Esquina, 205, and the Box — will be sentenced on October 10 for importing more than 100 kilos of weed and dealing it in New York in 2004 and 2005. There’s been speculation that the August 24 raid of the Box and La Esquina was related to this, and we’ve heard rumors that Cordell was recently arrested again — but the Box’s publicist, Nadine Johnson, tells us neither of these things are correct (a check with NYPD turned up no recent arrests). She also describes Cordell as a consultant and not a partner in the Box, as reported in a recent Observer profile and other places: “We had taken the decision to call him a partner, but he isn’t a real partner or employee for the Box or La Esquina.” Serge Becker did not know about Cordell’s past until ten days ago, when his case went to trial, Johnson says. She also issued an emphatic statement to Grub Street on behalf of Becker further disavowing Cordell’s ownership stake.

Read more»

NewsFeed 

9/19/07

12:30 PM

La Esquina Reopens, but Serge Becker's Spots Still Not in the Clear

A sign posted on 205's door last November.Photo: Daniel Maurer

La Esquina’s basement and the Box are open again, but Serge Becker’s woes may not be over. Alberto Armendarig, a reporter for Mexican newspaper La Reforma tells us that last Saturday at 205 (another joint Becker has his stamp on), he was choked by a bouncer and bodily ejected from the club in such a way that he tried to press assault charges (cops didn’t find any marks on him and told him to brush it off and call it a night). Sounds like any other Saturday to us, but Armendarig says he’s now on a quest to close the club down. As it turns out, he may not have to lift a finger.

Read more»

The New York Diet 

9/14/07

9:30 AM

Kristina Klebe of ‘Halloween’ Likes Her Yogurt With Pumpkin Seeds

Kristina Klebe

This salad is killer.Photo: Melissa Hom

If you’re one of the many who saw Rob Zombie’s Halloween during its record-setting opening weekend, you last saw Kristina Klebe playing trash-talking cheerleader Lynda. You’ll probably next see her alongside Uma Thurman in Griffin Dunne’s comedy The Accidental Husband, in which she plays Isabelle Rossellini’s (fully dressed and much more conservative) daughter. In the meantime, she’s jetting between her hometown, New York (she used to bartend at Serafina), and her adopted city, L.A. “I love that I can walk back to a place after dinner,” she says of New York. “If you go out in L.A., you’re full and you just go out to your car and go home.” So where did she dine and dash during this week of auditions and director meetings?

Read more»

Mediavore 

9/11/07

10:00 AM

Olives the Nightclub? Bring On an International Box

Todd English may want to get in on the hip parade surrounding La Esquina by opening his own Kenmare spot with nightlife guru Joe Vicari. [NYP]

There’s a rumor that Simon Hammerstein wants to open an international Box and bring his gross anthems to London. [Down by the Hipster]
Related: Narcissistic and Highly Intoxicated Box Patrons Want Totally Gross Anthems, Says Owner

Could Kyotofu and its killer cupcake be expanding with a space downtown? [Eater]
Related: Best Cupcake 2007 [NYM]

Read more»

Mediavore 

8/28/07

10:00 AM

Chodorow and Valenti Scope UWS Hotel; Ramsay's Culinary Reputation Waning

Jeffrey Chodorow and Ouest chef Tom Valenti may both open restaurants in the boutique hotel On the Ave at Broadway near 76th Street. [NYP]

Has Gordon Ramsay spread himself too thin? Harden’s annual guide has dethroned Ramsey’s eponymous flagship as its pick for highest overall rating in food, service and ambience. [The Guardian]

Lower East Side neighbors were duped by the Box — they believed it was to be a “cultural institution.” Well, sort of depends on your definition of “culture.” [NYDN]

Read more»

Neighborhood Watch 

8/27/07

3:15 PM

LES Crackdown; Yogurt Wars Expand UWS Front

Chelsea: Patricia Yeo is out at Sapa. [Eater]
Lower East Side: Turns out La Esquina’s basement is illegal! [NYP]
Midtown West: Get your Charlie Murphy fix at El Centro; it’s his favorite Mexican restaurant. [Gridskipper]
Soho: Former 66 chef Josh Eden has taken over the kitchen at Goblin Market. [Strong Buzz]
Upper West Side: Yogurt Wars update: Pinkberry takes over Excel Fine Art’s space on Columbus Avenue. [Eat for Victory/VV]
West Village: Something's fishy about the seafood sister restaurant to the Spotted Pig: Diners at the original heard staff chatting about the location opening soon as the 10 Spot. [Down by the Hipster]

NewsFeed 

8/27/07

2:30 PM

No Celebrities Were Harmed in Weekend Closing of the Box

The Box

What the Box looks like when it's closed. Photos: Mike Duva

When we last heard about the Box, owner Simon Hammerstein was telling a whistle-blowing auditioner that his patrons are “narcissistic and highly intoxicated. They don’t listen to words.” We can only assume, then, that the cops used sign language when they raided the place on Sunday morning and shut it down after searching random narcissists for drugs (Jay-Z and Cameron Diaz got away safe, perhaps by using the controversial Freeman Alley exit). What kind of substances would be consumed at a place that Hammerstein has insisted is not a nightclub? (A Box rep told "Page Six" the raid was due to a clerical error.) Well, the last time we were there, MC Raven O was doing a rendition of “Cocaine” and dumping white powder all over everyone. So, yeah, there’s that.

Update: Gawker reports it was a noise complaint that drew the cops.

Cops Raid Downtown Hot Spot [NYP]

Related: Narcissistic and Highly Intoxicated Box Patrons Want Totally Gross Anthems, Says Owner

NewsFeed 

8/13/07

2:00 PM

When Chefs Play Dress-up

All the young dudes…Photo: Courtesy of Esquire

The September issue of Esquire is the gift that keeps on giving: Last week it introduced us to the foppish Thomas Crowley of Bar Veloce and his hilarious MySpace page; today it brings us “Angry Young Men,” a “new generation of mavericks” selected to wear $1,500 suits and glower for the camera. Two of our favorite mavericks made the cut: nightlife impresario Simon Hammerstein, looking tough with a burned-down cig and a stripy fall suit, and culinary “It” boy David Chang, mad as hell in classic houndstooth. We can see how running the Box would wear a guy out, but what got in D.C.’s craw? He looks like somebody just told him he had to use Boar’s Head bacon at Ssäm Bar. That said, he does look sharp.

Related: Bar Veloce GM Moonlights as Raffish Fop
What’s in the Box? [NYM]

NewsFeed 

7/ 5/07

12:08 PM

Narcissistic and Highly Intoxicated Box Patrons Want Totally Gross Anthems, Says Owner

Von Von Von: "What do you mean, 'Don't call us…'?"Photo courtesy Von Von Von

Starting July 14, the Box will host early dinner shows at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Besides a three-course meal of Jewish comfort food and the chance to spot Scar-Jo, what exactly can one expect for the $125 price of admission? Server Mike Harr, whom we recently interviewed for Ask a Waiter, would say only that the show was “mysterious, very mysterious,” but we have another inside source: Belgian pop sensation Von Von Von, best known for wowing the Apollo, who recently auditioned before owner Simon Hammerstein. We'll let Von tell this in his own words:

Read more»

Ask a Waiter 

5/29/07

5:18 PM

Michael Harr of the Box Serves Scarlett Johansson, Experiences a ‘Brush of Excitement’

“They always ask whether my mustache is fake. I don’t like to talk about it.” Photo: Melissa Hom

When Michael Harr applied for a job at the Box, his only previous waiting experience was at a summer camp — he figures he was hired mostly for his look, cultivated in part because he’s a musician in the Scallywag Sideshow. “They had a woman doing costumes,” he remembers. “While [the other employees] were on line getting measured, she came up to me and said, ‘You can just wear whatever is in your wardrobe.’” We asked Michael about the inner workings of the city’s most popular yet enigmatic dinner cabaret — not surprisingly, he kept his answers very close to his vintage vest.

Read more»

Restroom Report 

2/ 9/07

4:57 PM

Hanging in the Box's S&M Restrooms

The ladies (left) have it a little better than the gents.Photo: Mike Duva

During the year and a half Simon Hammerstein spent converting a former abattoir (and later, sign factory) into his dinner theater the Box, he hauled in an imposing set of doors from an insane asylum using his pimpmobile. We suspected the restroom décor would be similarly eccentric, and sure enough, the door to the wheelchair-accessible ground-floor WC comes from an old public schoolhouse. Then again, we’ve seen that before. The real action lay on the other side of the portals found down a narrow staircase, and at the end of the same sconce-lit hallway that leads to dressing rooms intended for circus freaks, S&M performers, and acrobats — whenever the place finally opens, that is.

Read more»

In the Magazine 

1/31/07

9:30 AM

Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Box

A decade ago those would have been raver pants.Photo: Mike Duva

If you’d rather wait to experience it in person (assuming you can score an invite to the next launch party), you’ll want to avert your eyes from the centerfold-worthy interior shot of the Box in this week’s magazine. William Van Meter’s profile of its primary owner Simon Hammerstein is also plenty revealing: Turns out the Rogers & Hammerstein progeny is a reformed raver. There won’t be any glow sticks at his dinner theater — just a twenty-inch-tall woman named Firefly, a G-stringed Russian gymnast, and (why not?) the “Hammerstein Beauties.” —Daniel Maurer

What’s in the Box? [NYM]
Related: Simon Hammerstein’s Personal Pimpmobile?

NewsFeed 

1/18/07

5:07 PM

Simon Hammerstein's Personal Pimpmobile?

The Box encourages you to drink responsibly.

Last night 205 and neighbor the Box, which opens in a couple of weeks, had a veritable door-off: A 205 list keeper unsympathetically turned away skater types who came to celebrate Vice's “Girls” issue while a doorman at the Box iced down uptowners trying to huff and puff their way into the Me magazine party (sample bluster: “My sister was a model in this week’s magazine. She must be on the list”). Passing both scenes on our way to admire the taxidermy collection at Home Sweet Home, we snapped a pic of the Boxcar (“The Box, 189 Chrystie St.” a decal on the door reads). Is this the personal pimpmobile of Simon Hammerstein, enfant terrible of the theater-owning Hammerstein family and proprietor of the Box? And is that tear in the side fallout from the Freemans–Box showdown? We’ll say this much: If you pull up in front of the place in this hooptie, at least you’re getting in.
—Daniel Maurer

 

 

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