1. Golden Chicken & Ribs returning to 9th Ave

    533 9th Ave

    Two years ago, a place called Golden Chicken & Ribs closed their store at 43rd & 9th. Since that time, the store has been taken over by Turco, who are going strong on the corner (and are even opening a second spot). It looks like after their two years away, they’re ready to try again, still on 9th Ave, but this time a few blocks down between 39th & 40th.

    The exterior of the future home of Golden Chicken & Ribs
    The signage announcing the future home of Golden Chicken & Ribs

    Here’s the best photo we could find of the old store:

    The exterior of the previous store of Golden Chicken & Ribs
    Source: Ray W/​Yelp

    And here’s the place now.

    The exterior of Turco

    The listing for the previous incarnation of the place is still up on Yelp, so you can check out the reviews from last time.

Thursday, Nov 7th

  1. More renovations, this time it’s Mercury Bar

    Renovations have claimed another local spot for the next few weeks/​months. Mercury Bar, along 9th Ave, has closed while the owners give it a makeover:

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    Flashback to last week:

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    As the notice posted on the door says, their sister bar Tonic is still open over at Times Square.

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    Obviously a bar on 9th Ave and one at Times Square will have basically the same atmosphere. You’ll hardly notice the difference.

Wednesday, Nov 6th

  1. After closing for renovations, Rino Trattoria closes for good

    Italian restaurant Rino Trattorina has been closed for a number of months now while undergoing renovations. Over the past few days however that’s changed, and they silently went from closed-​for-​now to closed-​for-​good.

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    Here’s what the windows previously looked like, when the plan was still renovations:

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    The place had a rocky history, with a 2½ star rating on Yelp, this nightmare of an alternate website, and some bizzare tweets, but they’ve apparently been around since 1999, so it’s been an impressive run. Here’s the place in it’s heyday:

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    While Rino Trattorina may be closed, this isn’t the end: their sister store Daniela Trattoria is still going a few blocks south between 45th & 46th, so the Trattoria family lives on.

Tuesday, Nov 5th

  1. Ecuadorian food arrived on Halloween as Ñaño opens

    While many people were out roaming in costume on Halloween, Ñaño Bar & Restaurant held their grand opening night, which looks to have been a big success. The Ecuadorian spot is now open for business across the road from Hell’s Kitchen Park.

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    Here’s some photos from the opening, from their Facebook page:

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    Source: Ñaño Bar & Restaurant/​Facebook
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    Source: Ñaño Bar & Restaurant/​Facebook
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    Source: Ñaño Bar & Restaurant/​Facebook

    They worked quickly over the month since we first checked in with the constructions, and the end result looks good. Head over to their site to check out the menu.

  2. Urban Market coming to 47th St

    402 W 47th St

    Don’t have too much information about this place aside from what we saw last time, but there’s signage up on the windows of the site of a former Thai restaurant on W 47th St, just west of 9th Ave, for “Urban Market”:

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    The spot used to be Pam Real Thai Encore, the second outpost of Pam Real Thai two streets up on 49th. We saw a peek inside while they were installing large fridge-​like machines in September, so it’s safe to assume it’s going to be some kind of grocer or deli. Should be interesting to see what they do with the place.

    To refresh from last time:

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    September 2013

    We’ll keep an eye out for anything more about the place. In the mean time, it’ll remain shrouded in mystery.

Monday, Nov 4th

  1. Mob beating and attempted robbery late Thursday night

    These people are the worst. A mob of seven people beat a guy up and tried to rob him late Thursday night, as reported by DNAinfo. The man was walking along W 56th St between 11th & 12th when the gang attacked. The NYPD released this photo of the “alleged” “suspects”:

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    Source: NYPD via DNAinfo

    The silver lining: despite it being seven-​on-​one, the group weren’t able to actually steal anything, and the victim is in a stable condition at St. Luke’s. Still, it’s terrible. Going anywhere west of 11th Ave at night is a gamble (you could even say west of 10th at some places), so this just furthers that paranoia.

  2. Pie Face construction watch update

    Time for a check in at the incoming Pie Face on 8th Ave. Last we saw back in September they were still installing drywall…they’ve made a lot of progress since then:

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    The signature I♥NY signage is going up (really think they missed out on a great pun opportunity with “PIE♥NY”):

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    Pie Face are on a roll lately. They opened up a spot on 9th Ave just a few months ago, and just last month opened a store at Union Square. You might as well just embrace the Australian sensation. With construction getting closer to finishing at the latest store, expert the prize wheel to be out the front in no time.

  3. Banks and Port Authority, try to contain your excitement

    Because we don’t have enough already, turns out there’s a branch of PNC Bank taking over the pretty-​massive store on the 8th Ave side of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Haven’t noticed until now because that strip is the worst for trying to walk through, so it’s already well underway.

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    Because nothing’s more interesting than banks, here’s the inside:

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    The good news is that as part of this deal, PNC are investing over $3 million into the terminal. If you’ve had the misfortune of having to take a bus from there, you know that can only be a good thing.

    Anyway, I’m sure the “go-​go-​go getter” and “NJ-​NY-​NJ round tripper” will be thrilled.

Sunday, Nov 3rd

  1. Brooklyn Fare is open and full of options

    The long-​awaited Manhattan outpost of Brooklyn Fare opened last week on W 37th St, and it’s already looking like it’s going to do well. The supermarket within it is stocked full of everything you can imagine, from made-​in-​store tortellini to flavored olive oils. We’ve had our eye on the not-​quite-​restaurant-​not-​quite-​supermarket for a while now, but now it’s finally a reality.

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    The place is somewhat split into two parts, and the supermarket portion of the place is fully up and running. The other half – a 45-​seat restaurant, with the notorious $225 multi-​course dinner – is scheduled to open at the end of the month, so you’d better start saving.