David Bouley Stymied by Community Board 1 in Move That’s Increasingly CommonAs Grub readers know, community-board-meeting shitshows end up determining what you eat, drink, and, in the case of the abandoned Forty Deuce space (which will now house Chris Eddy’s sushi spot), what sort of celebs and semi-nudity you may or may not be able to feast your eyes upon on a Monday night. Consider the case of recently opened Mercury Dime, which wanted wine, but ended up serving coffee. Or the plight of Death & Co., which now has to close at midnight and may end up gone for good. Or David Bouley’s attempt to open Brushstrokes, which Eater reports was again stymied by Community Board 1 last night, though Bouley will have one more chance to plead his case later this month.
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It’s Offish: Forty Deuce Space is Back on the MarketWhile Todd English has no comment about rumored plans to open at 98 Kenmare, what we can tell you about the status of Kenmare Street’s future swankitude is this: According to broker James Famularo of NYCRS, the space that was to be Forty Deuce is back on the market at the price of $35,000 per month (“reduced!” says a property listing e-mailed to us today), no key money. Party at neighborhood activist Janet Freeman’s house!
Earlier: Ivan Kane’s Forty Deuce: Alive?!?!
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Ivan Kane’s Forty Deuce: Alive?!?!Forty Deuce spokesperson Kris Ferraro told us earlier that Ivan Kane wasn’t currently planning to proceed with a New York outpost of the club, but a Villager article points out that Kane still hasn’t withdrawn his application with the State Liquor Authority. We checked in with broker-to-the-hot-spots James Famularo who says he has received eight to ten Letters of Intent (a step normally taken after an offer letter) from café, restaurant, and lounge operators eager to take over the space. “One person wants to do a high-end clothing retailer — a national chain,” says Famularo. Still, he can’t do anything until Kane relinquishes his lease, and Kane hasn’t been in touch. The latest e-mail from Ferraro is cryptic: “‘May still’ are the words. He is not currently — or at this time moving forward, however — no final discussion has been made.” For his part, Famularo isn’t showing the space just yet: “How do you go this far and throw in the towel?” he says. “That would really surprise me if he does.”
Related: Kane Teases Whether He’ll Drop Striptease Club Bid [Villager]
Earlier: Exclusive: Ivan Kane Kills NYC Plans for Forty Deuce
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Exclusive: Ivan Kane Kills NYC Plans for Forty Deuce Club owners have a long, proud history of ignoring Community Board rulings, so we were surprised to hear that Ivan Kane has taken the massive opposition to Forty Deuce to heart. According to a spokesman, Kane will not open a burlesque club at 19 Kenmare or anywhere else in the city. This is despite the fact that construction was well underway and despite implying, during the CB meeting, that he might pursue the project regardless of outcry. Kane, who moved his family to New York while building the club, has returned to Los Angeles to open his Hollywood restaurant and lounge, Café Was, and will focus on opening Forty Deuces in San Diego and — pending negotiations, we’re told — perhaps Atlantic City. And here we thought New York was becoming too friendly to chains!
Earlier: Neighbors Take the Riding Crop to Forty Deuce [Grub Street]
Mediavore
The Next Phase of the Keller Empire; Eater X Strikes AgainPlans in the works for an inn at French Laundry, a butcher shop called Bouchon Boucherie, and, of course, a burger joint, have some critics saying Thomas Keller is spreading himself too thin. [Bloomberg]
Gordon Ramsay may have booted chef Neil Ferguson from the London and severed a decade of ties with the chef because he was being too nice to employees, but Ferguson will have free rein in the kitchen when he opens Allen and Delancey. [Sunday Mirror]
Eater X prepared for his burrito-eating win on Saturday in Maine “by just eating candy for a day,” which he said helped clear his system. [Fox News]
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CB2 Disses and Dismisses Forty Deuce and PublicWe’re hearing that at last night’s full CB2 meeting, the board unanimously accepted the business committee’s earlier vote to recommend denying Ivan Kane’s application for a liquor license at 19 Kenmare. Kane, who was not present, was presumably in Vegas easing his nerves in front of a pair of pasties. It remains to be seen whether Kane will continue pursuing the space, where he has started and stopped construction.
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Community Board Bounces Kane’s ClubWe’ve just heard from Community Board No. 2 that its business committee, in a private meeting last night, voted unanimously to recommend a denial of liquor license to Forty Deuce. That recommendation will be mulled over by the full board on September 20, after which a recommendation of denial will most likely be sent to the SLA. Not a good day for Ivan Kane, David Bowie, or Sting, the last of whom will likely need to take a lot of hallucinogens to get over this.
Earlier: Neighbors Take the Riding Crop to Forty Deuce
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Neighbors Take the Riding Crop to Forty Deuce
During an hour-long debate at last night’s Community Board 2 meeting, Ivan Kane didn’t get much love for Forty Deuce, construction of which he says he halted after the CB rescinded its initial recommendation to approve a liquor license. Among his statements that were met with jeers: “There are only eight bars within a 500-foot radius” (neighbors counted twenty), “The ticketed entry fee is sometimes $10” (“Your burgers are $10!”), “There are layers [regarding the dancers’ costumes]” (“What does that mean?”), “I felt this was a community that welcomed artists” (“Oh, please!”).
Openings
Prepare Yourself for ‘Upscale Professionals’ and Prince Night
In this week’s magazine, an Intel piece delves into the controversy behind Forty Deuce, but Ivan Kane’s club isn’t the only banker bait coming to Chinatown/Little Italy. As the photo above indicates, the notorious porno wallpaper in M Bar’s bathrooms is being torn down. In its place, come September 24, will be the Randolph at Broome. Look for a “West Indies speakeasy” motif and expect “upscale professionals who love to get down.” That means people who’ve graduated from cheap Bud pitchers to $30 to $40 pitchers of beer and a vodka cocktail called the “Michael Derry.”
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Neighbors Aren’t Feeling Sting and Bowie’s Burlesque ClubIn a bit of dog-bites-man news, it seems certain neighbors aren’t digging the idea of Forty Deuce, the burlesque club that’s due to replace Little Charlie’s Clam Bar at 19 Kenmare Street. Screams this flyer we found on Grand and Mott today: “OUR LITTLE ITALY / CHINATOWN / BOWERY / NOLITA COMMUNITY IS NOT GOING TO BE THE NEW ‘TIMES SQUARE’ FOR UPSCALE TRENDY LATE-NIGHT PARTY-GOERS.” Are these the same citizens-on-patrol who are trying to get the Box closed because it wasn’t the “cultural institution” it promised to be? We advise them to tune in here, because we hear something big — bigger even than Double Happiness’ upscale trendy makeover, maybe — is coming to the LitItChiBoNo neighborhood soon.
Earlier: Bowie’s Burlesque Club to Give the Box a Run for Its Money
Double Happiness to Get $1 Million Makeover, Reopen to Privileged Few
Neighborhood Watch
Carroll Gardens Has Its Own Empanada LadyCarroll Gardens: The nabe has an Empanada Lady. [A Brooklyn Life]
Clinton Hill: Pillow Cafe, known for its peanut-butter smoothies, is serving alcohol, but, let’s hope, not PB shooters. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Harlem: Twenty blocks is an unheard-of trek for a Venti Caramel Macchiato; residents near the impending Starbucks at 145th Street wait with bated breath for the opening. [Uptown Flavor]
Morningside Heights: Columbia students have gained a Chipotle at 110th and Broadway, and it will kick off its opening on Wednesday, June 27, with a fund-raiser for the university’s athletics. [Grub Street]
Nolita: Protest notices have been posted in response to the opening of burlesque club Forty Deuce in the former Little Charlie’s Clam Bar space. [Eater]
Williamsburg: Monkey Town’s new chef Ryan Jaronik, from three-star restaurant Masa in Boston, debuts his menu next week. [Grub Street]
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Bowie’s Burlesque Club to Give the Box a Run for Its MoneyEarlier this week we reported that broker James Famularo had closed a deal putting mobster institution Little Charlie’s Clam Bar into the hands of a new owner. Sure enough, the Observer now reports that come autumn David Bowie, Sting, and Ivan Kane will turn the place into a low-key, high-spender outpost of Kane’s Vegas and L.A. burlesque nightclubs Forty Deuce. Will this be the next Box? If we’re to believe Famularo, it may be that and more; he says the owners have budgeted something in the neighborhood of $4 million to, among other things, tear open the ground floor (keeping 25 percent of it for use as a mezzanine) and install a stage in what’s now the basement. For food, Famularo says, Kane is considering serving 500 different types of French fries, though he admits, “I couldn’t tell whether he was joking or serious.” One thing Kane is serious about: “He wants 100 percent of the focus to be on the girls and the dancing.” You heard it — no rubbernecking when the Thin White Duke shows up.
It’s Curtains for Little Italy’s Little Charlie’s; Bowie-Backed Burlesque Show Replacing It! [The Real Estate/NYO]
Earlier: Little Italy Mobster Institution No Longer in the Family