Redd's Roster of Restaurants of the Old Weird New York

Lol at this article: https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/12/style/the-fifth-deadly-sin.html

Posting a link to this article as well, although I haven’t really studied it yet: https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/19/arts/where-best-to-sate-101-food-hankerings.html

That link looks great, wish i had a subscription

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhqhZwfrhxE

the extra fancy McD's down on Broadway south of Wall was nice when it opened...not sure of its current state

― calstars,

The fanciest McDonald's ever has got to be the one in New Hyde Park. It's a landmarked mansion ca. late 18th c

A literal McMansion. I haven't been in 25 years but i believe it's still there.

https://www.fijen.se/wordpress/2013/02/02/west-broadway-in-new-york-usa/

Maybe already posted upthread.

West Bway was (is?) the Hollywood Blvd of soho tourism. Not a place id thought you’d find an old weird restaurant. Then again I wouldn’t know as I always kind of avoided that street

Old Weird is relative.

Ate at Novecento many a time. Good steaks. Argentinian steakhouses I guess were a thing for a while, although there's still Buenos Aires on E. 6th St.

El Teddy's was on West Bway also, down at Franklin St.

Hourglass Tavern finally bit the dust?

https://hourglasstavern.com

It had been under new ownership anyway and was never very good even before that, and their "gimmick" of having an hourglass mounted on its axis on the wall beside each table that the waitress would flip over when you sat down, with the expectation that you'd need to leave when the sand had run out, was UTTERLY OBNOXIOUS but for some reason I still have a soft spot in my heart for it. Maybe it was because it was never very expensive, and was engineered around the needs of a theatre crowd that wanted something quick to eat but still wanted to sit down, and the vanishing idea of "Restaurant Row"...

Re: Chumley's apparently it's now expensive and quasi-chic. Yuck!

If you could bring back one restaurant, what would it be?

— Grub Street (@grubstreet) January 14, 2022

A lotta places lamented in this thread show up in the responses

In fact, judging by the time stamps, it looks like Florent was the first reply to the question, just as Florent was the first restaurant named in our thread

As it should be.

:)

Anyone remember around 1990 a large place on the east side of broadway between Houston and Bleecker? It may have been called “betty” something…

Doesn’t ring a bell. Nor does Prune, mentioned in that thread Josefa linked, but maybe that was a little after my time.

Betty Brown's Broadway Diner. It was my favorite restaurant when I was 10 years old or something and still lingers large in my early memories of manhattan. I grew up in West Orange NJ and had an aunt who lived in Chelsea (still does) so we'd come in the city plenty and I remember that place so well. They served coffee in giant soup bowl sized cups and I'd get sliders with shoe-string fries. At the time, I don't think I'd ever been to White Castle and I don't think sliders were super common, but what do I know I was like 10 years old. I remember it having really high ceilings and being loud and dark and huge, but again, I was 10, maybe I was just small.

Prune wasn't that long ago, relatively speaking. I went there when I was in my 20s or 30s, it was great.

less early but still fond memory that may be colored by age and nostalgia is Bendix Diner.

prune was a little after my time but luckily i got to eat there during one of my v infrequent trips to nyc, just pre-pandemic. incredibly chill, beautiful little restaurant, owners on hand, friendly, great wine.

Used to see Jim Carroll at Bendix. The Chelsea one, not the East Village one.

OK, so Betty Brown's Broadway Diner was in the space that became the revived Fiorucci in 2001 (now gone as well).

Given Prune's location and the fact that it opened in 1999 I feel I must have eaten there at some point, but if so nothing about it has stuck in my memory.

This NYT article from 1986 (prob paywalled) mentions Betty's Broadway, Florent, and other offbeat downtown eateries:

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/06/garden/tapas-tableaux-dining-is-different.html

“
CALL it unconventional, iconoclastic or in some cases bizarre, the downtown style in restaurants is a refreshing change of pace from the starched conventionality of the midtown expense-account temples.

The booming downtown restaurant scene is notable not only for its scope but also for its distinctive style - in design, food presentation and experimental attitude.

Where else, for example, could one eat Spanish tapas, or finger food, in a pastel-splashed dining room with clashing green tablecloths? On one wall at El Internacional (219 West Broadway, between White and Franklin Streets) is a video monitor that shows cartoons and the kitchen crew at work.

When it comes to food presentation, downtown has flair. This can be seen in ambitious establishments such as the Gotham Bar and Grill (12 East 12th Street), where vividly garnished food is set against black plates, as well as at Betty Brown's Broadway Dining (622 Broadway, between Bleecker and Houston Streets), where retrograde munchies such as peanut butter sandwiches are served on Crayola-bright platters. At Indochine, a Cambodian-Vietnamese restaurant at 430 Lafayette Street (between East Fourth Street and Astor Place), exquisite tableaux are created with Oriental ingredients.

Some inspired dining rooms are found in the cavernous former industrial spaces here. Among them are Amazonas, a Brazilian restaurant at 492 Broome Street (West Broadway); the SoHo Kitchen and Bar at 103 Greene Street (near Spring Street), and Bar Lui at 625 Broadway (near Houston Street).

The 1950's diner theme is sizzling hot at the moment, as can be seen in such places as Exterminator Chili at 305 Church Street (near West Broadway) and Restaurant Florent, a bistro at 69 Gansevoort Street (near Washington Street.) Of course what is exotic today is conventional tomorrow. Before long, midtown lawyers may be sitting on diner stools and eating from banana-yellow plates.”

Yes BETTY BROWN’s
I also remember it as huge. Also kind of a blue interior maybe? And big booths as I recall. Kind of a nocturnal Hawaii surfer decor vibe maybe?

Also went to Exterminator Chili a bunch of times

Theme from on Old Weird New York Italian Restaurant

Liking the accidental “on”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iG6s5W5kOY

Nice
Forgot how easy it was to jump turnstiles

still commonplace
wish my shoulder wasn't so banged up

Easier to do with a crowd of friends

https://img.discogs.com/PC5yOZx9ozu7_5mcAAHFb2XOZc8=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-427787-1421590180-2487.jpeg.jpg

Was wondering what that was coming.

I waited a while for someone else to go first. But it had to be done.

Because you had to be a …

Not old and not weird but still going to mark the passing of Fika a few years ago: https://ny.eater.com/2019/9/24/20882251/fika-closed-nyc

The fika on desbrosses st downtown was super chill. Rips

Yes, that was the one I always went to.

Nice area to walk around in and I loved those big windows on the corner to look out.

RIP Angel’s Share and it’s adjacent restaurant, Village Yokocho:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/nyregion/tony-yoshida-japan-village-angels-share.html

aargh, its.

Sunrise Mart too.

I wonder if people are feeling nostalgia for the time when nyc was dotted with bustling neo-speakeasies. Perhaps what we need now is a neo revival of those. Dress the mixologists up in fashions of the aughts.

Just saw something about a new one. Think it is the one in the first picture here: https://www.timeout.com/newyork/bars/the-best-speakeasies-in-nyc

We got to-go cocktails now so…

Is Decible bar still around, down the street from there? Has kind of a speakeasy vibe

Seems Sake Bar Decibel is still in business. This article is really good: https://punchdrink.com/articles/quiet-defiance-of-decibel-sake-bar-nyc/

Then I saw another article in there about the original Terroir in the East Village. I only ever have gone to Terroir Tribeca on Harrison Street.

Damn so many tipsy meals with friends and loves at Village Yokocho and Angels Share. RIP