Yesterday evening we spoke to Death & Co. owner David Kaplan, who confirmed that East Village boîte Death & Co. was preparing to reopen last night following recent liquor-license-renewal issues. So that’s good news! Kaplan also divulged a few more details about the upcoming 120-seat bar he’ll open in the financial district with David Blatt. It seems mixologist Alex Day, formerly of Death & Co. and whom we feared lost to L.A., is heading up the cocktail menu for the project. That Los Angeles bar Day and Kaplan are planning is still in the works, though there’s no set time frame on either.
As far as his way-downtown project goes, Kaplan was thrilled to get unanimous community-board approval to operate until 4 a.m. seven days a week. “It’s one of the few rather untouched areas of New York in terms of restaurants, hospitality, and nightlife,” he said of the neighborhood. He told Grub Street the space has a “very small-ground floor footprint,” and a huge basement. When the place opens, it’ll have a daytime program at street level with coffee (“we’d love to get a local New York roaster,” Kaplan said) and eats like sandwiches, “compelling offerings for local businesses” without a lot of good breakfast and lunch options, explained Kaplan. For now, he’s staying mum on most details of the upcoming New York and L.A. bars, saying only that he’s in the process of vetting chefs for New York right now. Come to think of it, we know of a number that are recently back on the job market.
Earlier: Still No Life at Death & Co., But Plans for a FiDi Expansion
