After Bai Cha comes...?

The spot that formerly housed Thai street food purveyor Bai Cha didn't stay unoccupied for long. Today I spotted a new awning up, just over a week after noticing Bai Cha's departure. And so, with very little ado at all, it's (almost) time to welcome to the Hell's Kitchen dining scene...Out Latin Food!

Huh.

Could this be what its name seems to suggest it is? Speculation could lead us astray here, so instead I merely wait patiently for the spot to unveil itself officially...

Bai Cha gone?!

I walked down Ninth Avenue this afternoon and saw a curious sight between 48th and 49th: a missing awning and shuttered storefront where recently there wasn't one. A quick racking of my brain reminded me that this was Bai Cha, that Thai-ish street food offshoot of Chili Thai a few doors down. Gone already, when it only opened in August?! Sad!

Bye bye, Bai Cha

Goodbye, Bossa Nova; Hello, Flavor

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed Bossa Nova Brazil restaurant on Ninth Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets had closed and there was work going on in the space. I've been out of town for a week, but I walked by this afternoon and voila, we have a new player in the game. Behold, Flavor:

Swank

There was no menu up, but from a cursory glance, it looks like a martini bar (the martini glass motif, maybe?). A Google search yielded nothing; note to bar owners: naming your bar "flavor" doesn't exactly make it highly searchable. Regardless, she's definitely open for business. We'll see what comes of it.

"1050" Restaurant Lounge no more

Yesterday afternoon I was walking around the neighborhood, enjoying the incredible weather and remembering what it felt like to be in sunny, warm weather. Remember what it was like to actually enjoy being outdoors? Yeah, I remember now. Spring is coming...

But back to the point of this post: I passed the Skyline Hotel, a run-down-looking edifice with an incongruously nice website, and noted that its restaurant, the "1050" Restaurant Lounge (quotation marks theirs), was padlocked. Hmmm. Sure enough, a sign in the window advertised available restaurant space.

Chained closed, though the menus are still up

And we're done here

To be sure: I have passed this restaurant many times and peeked in with a sort of morbid fascination. It struck me as the Manhattan version of a bowling alley restaurant in a semi-rural area. You with me? I was thinking of nominating it for Eater's "Who Goes There," but I guess we now have the answer to that (er, nobody). So, all in all, we'll see who comes in to claim this prime piece of 10th Avenue real estate. It's looking ripe for a Bennigan's...

Sad...

I passed the Caribbean restaurant Negril on my way to the subway, and lo and behold, they're closing. Although that's always a sad sight, it's often an opportunity for some great "teary shutter signage," and Negril didn't disappoint:

The endless goodbye

My favorite part is "Negril is proud to have fed some of the most important people of our time."

"Some of"? Who?

It is worth noting, though, that their West Village restaurant will still be open, and they're offering a 20% discount Sunday-Thursday through September 31st to "Chelsea customers making the switch." So if you're in the mood for Caribbean food, "switch" to their Village location and get 20% off.