With Vynl all settled into their new store next door to the old one, we wondered what would happen to the old place. It’s had papers up on the windows since the changeover, giving us no clue what was going on. HK regular Laurie heard a rumor that the difficultly-​named Hell’s Kitchen restaurant (not the neighborhood…or the restaurant on 39^th…) a few streets down from Vynl will be moving into the place.

…to…

The move would make sense: Vynl and Hell’s Kitchen – along with El Centro and Therapy – are owned by the same group, so it seems they’re shuffling their spots around, bringing everything closer together. If the move takes place, it’ll be interesting to see if they open up a new place in Hell’s Kitchen’s current spot or let it go.

Either way, given how long the Vynl changeover took, if any of this ends up happening it’s still a long way out, so we’ll keep an eye out for more as we go.

Thanks Laurie for the tip!

Another day, another closure. Rice & Beans, on 9^th Ave, is the latest victim, getting shuttered at the end of last week:

Strangely, the inspection results aren’t online, and they’re still listed with an A-​rating from January, so that’s a mystery… It’s been around a week since the closure, so you can expect them to back up and running in no time.

Health food and Mexican aren’t normally things you’d expect to go together, but new opening Al Horno on W 47^th St is trying to change that.

Their menu is loaded will all sorts of healthy takes on traditional Mexican dishes, which already seem to be pretty popular. Give that the food seems to be much better for you, as you might expect the dishes are a little bit pricier than less health-​focused options, but not by much.

Al Horno takes over from the former Energy Kitchen store at this location, after their mysterious closure last year. We’ll have to wait and see how popular things like “energy tacos” are against all the more-​traditional Mexican places around.

Thanks Janice for letting us know!

In just over two weeks, the third Village Voice Choice Streets Food Truck Event (mouthful) will be on over by the Intrepid on Pier 86. There’ll be over 20 trucks with food to try, so there should be some more variety than the usual carts:

1,300 ticketholders will be presented with a exclusive tasting passport to gain access to over 20 of some of the city’s favorite and highly sought-​after food trucks. Set amid the backdrop of the New York Landmark — The Intrepid — attendees will feast on Pier 86 and enjoy and evening of fabulous food, complimentary drinks, free tour of the Intrepid ship and an amazing view of New York City.

Here’s the scene from last year:

Tickets are $50-$70, so if you’re interested you can get them over here. We don’t really get a lot of “fancy” food trucks in our area, so it should an interesting interesting night.

Torishin, a successful Japanese restaurant on 1^st Ave, is the next spot to try opening at the former La Silhouette store on W 53^rd St. The place has been awarded a Michelin star for three consecutive years, as well as various other awards, and are very passionate about “yakitori”.

A few months ago Clubhouse BBQ was planning on opening in the space, but ran into strong resistance from the neighbors for planning on using the courtyard space that’s part of the store (so unreasonable). They ended up backing down from using any outdoor space, but eventually faded away… Now Torishin is having a go, and right on cue the NIMBYs “concerned neighbors” have begun their campaign:

As we mentioned during the Clubhouse BBQ saga, while I understand people not wanting excessive noise coming from right outside their window, the courtyard is part of the store’s lease – any tenant there will be paying for it – so it’s a bit unreasonable to expect them not to use it. The buildings across 9^th Ave there are above three bars/​bar-​like restaurants with music playing all through the night and you don’t see campaigns going on from those residents about it, so, not to be dismissive, but if a restaurant with people dining outside is the worst this block has to worry about, they’re doing pretty well…at least that’s one opinion.

Anyway, we’ll see what happens…

Update: DNAinfo have some more info on the place.

As part of their 20^th anniversary celebrations, Sullivan St Bakery have been having all sorts of promotions over the past few weeks, and tomorrow, if you head into their store on W 47^th St they’re rolling back to 1994 prices on all their breads.

They’ve also got a buy-​one-​get-​one-​free deal on their pizzas on the 17^th, $2 birthday cake on the 20^th, and more. See the flyer for all the details, or see Midtown Lunch for more.

Taking over the forever vacant old Subway store on 9^th Ave between 52^nd & 53^rd, Poulette – “the first French-​inspired rotisserie chicken experience in NYC” – has been revealed today, with their signage being put up:

The place will be open 7 days a week, from 11am to midnight. No menu up yet, but in addition to lots of chicken, here’s a taste of what else they’ll offer, from their site:

You think the chicken is the best part of this? Think again…we cook our roasted potatoes just like in France…on the rotisserie machine and just below the chickens. In addition we have created a range of seasonal sides from Green Bean Casserole w/​Shitake Mushrooms & Fried Shallots to Baked Curried Caulifower w/​Herbed Bread Crumbs, brussel sprouts, ratatouille and much more! For dessert we offer a daily selection of tarts, fruit salad or wild berry crumble.

With Golden Chicken & Ribs recently becoming a produce market, chicken lovers will soon have a new place to call home.

Update: DNAinfo have some more info about the place, and got an interview with the owners.

A few weeks ago, Mario’s Trattoria suddenly closed. The place had their fair share of troubles, but still seemed to be doing fairly well, so the closure comes as a surprise.

It is understandable that they’ve closed though – they ran into some trouble at the end of last year being hit with a health department closure, as well as a number of poor reviews online, and have been the only inviting place on that section of the block for a while, surrounded by sidewalk sheds for months:

Still, the closure looks very sudden. They’re still selling a Groupon for the place (and over 820 so far have been sold…), and haven’t made any announcement anywhere about their sudden disappearance. Once the scaffolding clears up around it, and the forever-​incoming Galerie 515 opens up nearby, that location will be much more popular, so we should be looking forward to a new tenant in no time. Maybe we’ll even get a Thai restaurant!

Just three months ago, Golden Chicken & Ribs returned to 9^th Ave, bringing all sorts of undoubtably unhealthy meals. Now, it’s almost completely flipped, as the place has switched to be Terra Market – a “neighborhood produce market”:

Contrast with:

The new market opened up at the end of last month, and given Stile’s closure in December just two streets up it’s good to see another option appear for fruit and vegetables. Plus with the weather slowly improving it won’t be long before all the farmers markets start back up. A chance to be healthy after some less health-​conscious options over winter.