We’ve got lots of news below about a high-end frozen food emporium, a caviar bar, and more coming to the Upper West Side.
Babeth’s Feast is set to open at 309 Amsterdam Avenue, between 74th and 75th street. The store sells gourmet frozen foods. Elisabeth de Kergorlay says she was inspired by her time living in France, when she found stores that would sell high-end frozen foods — not just the peas and Hungry Man dinners we get here, but quiche, meats and desserts too. She has one store on the Upper East Side. The new store is expected to open sometime next year. Check out the selection here. Thanks to Lauren for the photo and Harriet for the tip.
Playa Betty’s opened its doors Monday night at 75th and Amsterdam in the former home of Citrus. Thanks to Joanne Freedman for the photo and Kate Genovese for the tip. Kate writes: “good tacos…menu could use some tweaks..but good stuff for public open. Awesome music!! Peppy joint to our at times dull hood.”
Amity Hall, the new bar at 982 Amsterdam Avenue (108th-109th street), opened on Monday night. The Columbus-Amsterdam BID was there for the opening and assures us that the first order was wings.
Olma Caviar Boutique and Lounge has put up its awning at 420 Amsterdam Avenue (80th). The sign may need a tweak, given the spelling error, readers pointed out. It could open in a matter of days, but no guarantees. “We are trying to be open before the New Year but it is hard to say because of the construction,” says Edward Eliachov, Olma’s director of retail operations told the Post. Thanks to Harriet for the photo. We first wrote about it here.
We ate at Playa Betty’s. Loved the food. Did NOT love the noise level. And did not think the music was so awesome. Maybe if it hadn’t been so loud….
But the food was excellent – we had build-your-own dharma bowls. You select your grains, greens, protein.
Food was terrific! But the noise!!! YIKES!
You didnt like the noise level at a restaurant called “Playa Betty’s”…???
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Caviar is a great accompaniment while complaining about the homeless, or displaced vets, or…
Bravo
And it is not a national chain so everyone can be at peace and not complain about the downfall of the UWS from how it used to be…
I”m super excited for all of these, especially Babeth’s Feast. I used to live in France too and miss Picard, which sold frozen foods exclusivly and was great (always hoped it would come to NY).
What restaurants and bars are open on Christmas Eve?
does anyone know what is opening in the old Amber location 70th & Columbus ?
A Corcoran real estate office: https://www.westsiderag.com/2015/11/25/openings-closings-american-apparel-crave-fishbar-mezzogiorno-tatz-bakery-chipotle-more
Babeth’s sounds like a winner. In the same space as the old Candle gay bar … how the neighborhood changes.
Why hasn’t Orwasher’s opened (originally set for Nov/Dec this winter) as you wrote here a while back? I peaked in through the plastic covering the windows (with a conveniently placed hole) and there was nothing there but sawdust. The outside is nice but it clearly will not open any time soon. Does anyone have an update?
Ugh the BID, the gentrifying colonizers of Amsterdam and Columbus avenues.
So what would you like to see instead?
Re: Babeth’s Feast
I have been in the Upper East Side location of this place. Nice looking place. Not a lot merchandise in the various display fixtures. I guess if one likes frozen meals, gourmet or whatever, this place could be appealing. I prefer cooking from scratch. I bet it could be a big hit on the UWS with persons who don’t cook and prefer to buy it there/eat it at home.
Any more info on what is going in at the Food Emporium location on 89th?
OK, Here is the deal…Anyone who eats at the Caviar bar, or shops at the Malle mustard store, or buys $20 a pound Lox, forever forfeits their right to call the Republicans the “Party of the Rich”. Seriously, a Caviar bar on the UWS is the perfect hangout for the guilt ridden rich white upper west side liberal.
Not to mention that your rhetoric about the Republicans being the party of the rich is out of date.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/opinion/how-did-the-democrats-become-favorites-of-the-rich.html?_r=0
Russ & Daughters has some of the best prices and even there Gaspe Nova is $10/quarter lb ($40/lb.)
Barney Greengrass charges $42/lb for the good oily Eastern Nova. Sturgeon is $62/lb.
Where are you getting smoked salmon for less than $20/pound?
At the risk of going off topic …
Nova Scotia (and Lox for those of us who still like their smoked fish salty) has not been $20/lb since my grandfather sliced it for a living. Local prices are closer to $60-$70/lb. and Barney Greengrass’s counter has been doing a fine job selling it to upper west siders for decades. Salmon and sturgeon have always been on the high side of the grocery list.
There are many pricey goods that signal change for the neighborhood but smoked fish ain’t one of ’em.
Yes, indeed. If someone starts selling lox at $20/pound, I’ll sure as hell be there to buy some. Jeff Berger’s outrage would be a little more convincing if he had at least half a clue about the facts. 🙂
Babeth’s is great. It’s a NY recreation of Picard, which has frozen-food stores all over Paris, often near the street markets (because what don’t they have at street markets? frozen food!)
There’s already a store on the East Side. It’s got great stuff, but the prices are high. Totally worth it in my opinion, but you have to compare them to restaurant food, not raw ingredients. It’s generally high-quality stuff prepared and packaged specifically for freezing and reheating.
I use it mainly for snacks, stuff you can throw in the microwave when you get home from work and have ready by the time you change out of your dress clothes.
A caviar bar? Give me a break! Another example of how New York is becoming more and more elitist and less and less diversified. Very sad.
I’d say it’s more diverse. We don’t currently have a caviar bar. This one fills a previously-unfilled space. Therefore it’s increased the diversity of dining options.
Or do only cheap bodega sandwiches count as a diverse dining option?
So many great new places to eat opening in the neighborhood.
My wife and 3 month old ate at Crave Fishbar opening night, the food, decor, service was excellent and everyone was in a great mood. Happy hour specials were great, $1 oysters, discounted cocktails — we will be back!
I remember the west side of Amsterdam Avenue on the block between 108 and 109 Street. I grew up on 109 Street. I think of the mom-and-pop shops that existed there, all owned by neighborhood people whose kids I knew casually or who were good friends of mine. There was Kaplan’s candy store; Zelman’s glass shop (window glass); Flink’s notions store. These moms and dads lived and worked in the neighborhood. There was a Peter Reeves grocery where my mother shopped and where they added up your items in pencil on the outside of a brown paper bag. There were no caviar bars. On the corner of 109th and Broadway was Flynn’s bar–nothing fancy–and less than a block north of that a bar and grill. It was a neighborhood then. People knew one another and knew their local merchants. Like pretty much every other New Yorker in my age bracket (which you can probably surmise from my reminiscences) I miss the city as it was in those days, before our blocks became malls and home to high-end chain stores. It may not have been as clean as it is today, but it was beautiful and affordable and much friendlier and more civilized than it is now, with the “gentry” endlessly “improving” it.
Let’s be honest with ourselves — the reason we think things were better in the old days is that we were younger then. That’s what drives most nostalgia. Given the choice between living in the world of my childhood (50 years ago) and the world of today, I would choose the world of today with no hesitation. But yes, it would be nice to still be young.
explains everything
Yeah, well, except that I’m nostalgic for a time that came and went before I was even born. . . .
While I am a relative newbie to the UWS, and I appreciate and try to frequent local shops and restaurants…none of the places mentioned in this post are mall stores or big box stores or high end chain stores. They might be the second location of other NYC stores, or the second restaurant with a different name, but isn’t that what we want people to aspire to? To open one shop or restaurant on their own and be successful enough they can open a second elsewhere?
I get the complaint in general, and every time I see another bank or drug store or mall store I roll my eyes as well, but just because someone chooses to try and make a living selling caviar, why should we fault that.
The gourmet frozen food and caviar joints probably won’t even last as long as the glutton free Italian restaurant, Risotteria.
I believe in was open for about six months before permanently closing.
As far as Playa Betty’s is concerned the music drove me out the door even before ordering.
All of these are bound to fail some sooner than others.
Gimmicks just don’t work in a neighborhood trade.
This is Amsterdam Avenue, not Park Avenue.
Better luck next time.