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

Was trying to remember the name of the ramshackle, two-story Spanish place in the Meatpacking District at 9th Ave & Gansevoort and just realized it was Rio Mar, mentioned upthread. That was always good for a pre-dancing meal, whereas Florent was for the post-dancing meal, back when you would actually want to go out in the Meatpacking District.

rio mar was good went there once with friend of a friend who was a big regular and got the royal treatment

loved grange hall that replaced the blue mill and now it has come to this wtf https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20151008/west-village/artist-reluctantly-removes-his-murals-from-closed-commerce-st-restaurant

Right, exactly that's Rio Mar, good description of the timing of the two restaurants that bookended that stretch of Gansevoort. In my mind's eye, the Bubby's in Dumbo (closed 2012, celeb sighting Chuck Schumer on Mother's Day) occupied a similar position on its block as Florent did. Went to umpteen birthday celebrations at Rio Mar, some my own, many with and for Mr. Fine Wine, with whom I must have gone to probably half of these places at one time or another.

Finally figured out the French place: Le Gamin, 50 Macdougal, right near Twelve Chairs, 56 Macdougal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/26/arts/to-engage-with-new-york-the-world-of-cafes.html?pagewanted=all

The Film Center Cafe, 635 9th Avenue (Hell's Kitchen). Closed 2011.
http://www.villagevoice.com/restaurants/after-78-years-the-film-center-caf-closes-its-doors-in-hells-kitchen-6517972

But Rudy's Bar & Grill, 627 9th Avenue, is still there. Which perhaps means we should probably should FAP there one day.

Here's one I haven't been able to confirm via Google… it was an Italian joint in the Noho area, somewhere around Houston & Thompson or LaGuardia, and I think it was called Boccaccio. The owner was an ex-Italian paparazzo, a very personable guy, who had the restaurant decorated with tons of photos of old Italian film stars that he may have taken himself. The place must have gone out of business by 2000, couldn't have been much later than that.

Hm. Don't remember it. Maybe I can ask photographer friend, assuming I can get a hold of him with his busy schedule.

Back to Brownstone Brooklyn.

The Bagel Point Cafe, 231 Court Street
Roberto Cappuccino, 221 Court Street

A little younger than the age requirement but sorely missed:
Sur, 232 Smith Street, between Butler and Douglass, Argentine restaurant
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/02/dining/25-and-under-an-argentine-rendezvous-for-the-meat-eating-crowd.html

Don't know how I didn't know that owners of Sur also owned Caffe Novecento, 343 W Broadway -still there!- where I ate lunch reasonably often at one point but most notably went to in the middle of night during the 2002 World Cup in Asia to watch Sweden knock Argentina out in the group stage with a draw of 1-1. The next day or, to be more precise, later that day, after the sun had come up, I went to the common room on the 13th floor of Warren Weaver Hall at NYU where all the Latin Americans I knew were sitting around glumly except the one beaming face from Fortaleza who told me of the joke about an America Express commercial going around Brazil, the punch line of which was "Cost of seeing Batistuta crying: priceless."

Another Irish place over near the Port Authority, McHale's, closed but then seems to have reopened at 251 W 51st.

Old Town Bar still there at 451 East 18th Street.

Cafe Un Deux Trois, as immortalized in James Salter's "American Express," is still there at 123 W 44th Street.

America Restaurant, 9 East 18th Street (Flatiron).

A big box place, felt more like a discotheque than a restaurant, where you watch the waitstaff or maitre or maitresse 'd walking far away up and down some kind of catwalk just to tell somebody their table was ready. Very, very 80s.

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/04/style/the-new-restaurants-space-and-grace.html

Added unneeded digit to Old Town address, should be 45 East 18th.

Texarkana, 64 W 10th. Which was also Cajun and Creole cuisine, including catfish, despite the name.

http://ny.eater.com/2011/8/2/6665595/the-american-psycho-guide-to-new-york-restaurants

Still the: The Peter McManus Café, 152 7th Avenue, near 19th (Chelsea)

Upper East Side:
Drake's Drum, 1629 Second Avenue
Mumbles (can't find address of location I remember, a little below 86th)

http://www.murphguide.com/closedbars.htm

Rathbone's is still around, 1702 2nd Avenue.

i ate at Sam Chinita p often for awhile

Yeah - loved Sam Chinita. They had that one waiter who was really tall. We nicknamed him "Abe" (Lincoln).

What was the little French place - cheap - across from St. Vincent's on the South side? Basically a lunch counter that sold coq au vin and roast chicken etc etc. Loved their fish.

I worked around the corner from Rio Mar for some years and loved going there for drinks and the great free tapas. The family who ran it were nice. Spent some snowy nights there, met a longtime girlfriend there. Then they closed without warning. A few months later if I recall the Gansevoort Hotel started coming together and that was the end of that.

Forgot about the free tapas. Seem to recall there was popcorn as part of that, or was it peanuts? Surely they didn't give boquerones away for free.

Mocca Lounge, 78 Reade Street (Tribeca/City Hall)

Kind of chic Israeli-run (I think) place that seemed to have move of a nightclub vibe at night that served excellent salads, especially The Symphony Salad.

Eureka Joe's, 168 Fifth Avenue (Flatiron)
Cozy cafe featuring books and armchairs, readings and performances, later became an internet cafe of sorts. Closed in 2000. James Redd used to meet there with a conversation group for his German class at Deutsches Haus.

Kaffeehaus, 131 Eighth Avenue, near 16th Street (Chelsea), across the street from Verso Books.
Authentic Viennese cafe, complete with newspapers on spindles. Seemed authentic that is, until the owner got bored and turned it into The Candy Bar, or The Bistro at Candy Bar, now closed.

Mocca Lounge, 78 Reade Street (Tribeca/City Hall)

Not to be confused with the Hungarian Restaurant Mocca, at 1588 2nd Avenue (Yorkville), closed in 2004.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/nyregion/thecity/the-rise-and-decline-of-a-hapsburg-empire.html

Carmella's Village Garden, 49 Charles Street (West Village)
Traditional rustic red sauce plus type of Italian restaurant. Although the location seems slightly off to me, can't help feeling I might be thinking of a slightly different place.

This article mentions some of the coffee houses on this thread: Le Gamin, Eureka Joe's, Kaffeehaus, Caffes Reggio and Dante( have we mentioned this yet?) along with, um, Starbuck's, when the honeymoon was still on ( I discussed this latter once with nabisco, I swear, whilst at a show by Nick A and Coco in Williamsburg, forgot what the band was called, did it have the word "chemistry" in the name)
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/corby/ckcofnyc.htm

Caffe Dante, 79-81 Macdougal Street
closed and was replaced last year by a restaurant named Dante.
http://ny.eater.com/2015/6/18/8806903/take-a-look-around-dante-now-open-in-the-the-old-caffe-dante-space#4772558

Columbia Hot Bagel -- best bagel in Morningside Heights by a mile, now condos

Band name was The Fake Fictions. Don't know where I got "chemistry" from.

getting all misty-eyed and hungry reading this, great thread James.

What was the little French place - cheap - across from St. Vincent's on the South side? Basically a lunch counter that sold coq au vin and roast chicken etc etc. Loved their fish.

Chez Brigitte!

here's my nostalgic tribute to Sam Chinita aka Mi Chinita https://wordpress.com/post/markwrite57.wordpress.com/80

a few blocks south on 8th Avenue the great La Taza de Oro is no more :(

Finally remembering Chez Brigitte.

That Wordpress link is asking for a password, Mark. Is this what you were trying to link to?
https://markwrite57.wordpress.com/tag/1981/page/2/

Sam Chinita and Mi Chinita Linda were not the same place, even if there were a few doors down from each other.

Although maybe Sam Chinita also called itself just Mi Chinita, sorry.

Petite Abeille, 134 W. Broadway (Tribeca) Belgian cuisine
Closed last year, but either planned to reopen or had other locations?
http://tribecacitizen.com/2015/02/18/petite-abeille-is-closing/

Oh, does seem to be the same guy. Looks like it became a bar
http://tribecacitizen.com/2015/08/25/a-new-bar-on-w-broadway/

shit sorry bout that. I'm clueless. look for the posts NYC cheap eats pt.1 & 2

Mi Chinita Linda was a different place but iirc Sam Chinita was originally called Mi Chinita

add to our list literally hundreds of greek diner/coffee shops

Wish I had a Zagat Guide from say, 1993. And one of those guides, the white ones with other the stuff- shopping, sites, dining,etc_ mixed together geographically based on the map. Can see in the mind's eye, but not the title, not the Insight Guide, not the DK guide but... They only did major cities. London, Paris, NYC...

Steak Frites, 9 East 16th Street (Union Square) and 225 Varick Street (Not quite Soho)
Moved from the former to the latter then back again. The latter address is a story unto itself, had many, many incarnations over the past few decades.

Ah yeah...Chez Brigitte. :)

And Rio Mar served peanuts along with the free tortilla Española and marinated octopus ( and grilled sausage too?)

This thread takes me back. Misty-eyed for sure. Beloved restaurants are something else when it comes to memories for me - moreso than clubs or shops, for example. Maybe it's the fact that all senses are engaged when you're in an eating place ( or drinking place) you love?

original incarnation of Steak frites was an early 90s fave, along with Prix Fixe a few blocks west of Union Square and Dix et Sept on the corner of you guessed it

Forgot about Prix Fixe, yes. Never quite figured out why it was called Dix et Sept- D'oh!

Riviera Cafe still right across from that, in that triangle, also touching the non-Euclidean intersection of W4th and W10th.

Which also touched the place called Joe's then Formerly Joe's then perhaps some other stuff -did it ever have ducks painted on it?- and at some point Joe's Again. Can't remember ever going in, but walked by hundreds of times:
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/22/nyregion/neighborhood-report-greenwich-village-once-again-a-joe-can-go-to-joe-s-again.html

Restaurants bring back all sorts of memories, because you were (usually) there with other people, for hours, talking about all kinds of interesting stuff, gossiping, blah blah blah, in addition to the good food and drink. (James Salter really good at writing about this. ) If you miss a restaurant, you are also missing your youth and your friends, whereas if you miss a record store, while you can still hear Maggot Brain in your head, or stream it, even if you can't find your copy of the Westbound or don't have a turntable anymore.

Oh yeah, do miss vinyl. But let's move along, nothing to see here.

But you are right about all senses being engaged.

Wish I had a Zagat Guide from say, 1993. And one of those guides, the white ones with other the stuff- shopping, sites, dining,etc_ mixed together geographically based on the map. Can see in the mind's eye, but not the title, not the Insight Guide, not the DK guide but... They only did major cities. London, Paris, NYC...

Also http://techland.time.com/2013/03/25/print-travel-books-are-dead-and-theres-no-good-replacement/

Williamsburg edition:

Oznot's Dish
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/oznots-dish/

This was the first real restaurant I think I ever went to in New York. I went with two 50-year-old hipsters in 1996 who lived in a converted auto parts store on the corner of Bedford and Grand. They told me it was run by "artists". The low, flickering lighting and the strangely curved, mosaic tiled bar were incalculably exotic to me. Here it was, New York was opening like a flower. I have no memory of the food but I do remember seeing more wine bottles than I think I'd ever seen in one place before.

Bean
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/bean/

I would go here probably two or three times a week, sit by myself, smoke and read and order a burrito. It was tiny, with tiny little cheap tables and chairs that didn't quite sit flush with the floor. It was my little refuge.

Planet Thailand
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/planet-thailand/

No, NOT the one on N. 7th. The real O.G., the one that had like 4 tables. It was in the south streets, not far from Domsey's and the Right Bank. Maybe S. 9th? The vibe was strictly sheetrock and fluorescent lights and fast diner-style service. BYOB. One night I got absolutely plowed at this place with some friends and we all decided that the men should go home and change into women's clothes and head to the Right Bank, where I knew the bartender, Del. He had just "invented" a one-stringed violin that he played with a pick and a guitar slide. He called it the "Slide-ell". One of my friends, stubble and lipstick, climbed over the chainlink fence across the street onto the roof of the 18-wheelers parked over there. Like an idiot. A police car drove by but didn't see him.

really enjoying this thread, as a foreigner.

you were (usually) there with other people, for hours, talking about all kinds of interesting stuff, gossiping, blah blah blah

Never got the hang of this. "Just one, please."

Not totally surprised. I may have sensed that when I used to think you were Jack Angstrom long ago. Although come to think of it perhaps he never ate in restaurants at all.

I'll miss Harry's Burritos on Columbus.

My friend came back with nothing on the paparazzi restaurant. Sorry, Josefa. But...
I did find out that googling Texarkana NYC Jagger will get you to some incredible rock paparazzi (or is he?) photos that I have never seen by a guy I have never heard of before. His website seems to be abandoned so look while you can! This guy, David McGough:
http://blues.gr/m/blogpost?id=1982923%3ABlogPost%3A203124

Redd, that guy's a psycho! And you have his name wrong, he's not an Updike character.

(Jack A)

Exact search I used: "texarkana restaurant" nyc jagger

You can only see Google cache, can't click through.

Ah, but you can just click on the image to enlarge and then "search by image" to confirm for example, that it is indeed Dave Edmunds in the photo, or simply look at the Related Images.

Redd, that guy's a psycho! And you have his name wrong, he's not an Updike character.

Some good punk photos from that guy too- Thunders, Damned, Dead Boys- but you have to click around or regoogle.

Oznot's was my favorite local restaurant in Williamsburg, the food was usually pretty good and not expensive