Is Jamaican Jerk Hut Miss Lily's the New Charles?

One of the great Community Board cameos of recent memory was Anna Wintour's appearance at a steamy CB2 meeting last summer, which she attended to protest a little Jamaican jerk restaurant called Miss Lily's. The project, in the old Le Gamin space at 132 West Houston, is the brainchild of Serge Becker, the man behind noisy, clubby Mexican restaurant La Esquina, as well as The Box and Cafe Select. The Vogue editor explained that surely, with Becker's track record, the restaurant and its large backyard would become the scourge of the peaceful tree-lined streets of the Village. After a few more splashy showdowns at the CB meetings — which included appearances by Wintour's son and Serge's baby mama — Miss Lily's finally nabbed a beer and wine license. (As it turns out, Wintour was late to that fateful meeting because of a Fashion Week conflict, so she couldn't put in her two cents).

After a quiet seven months, Miss Lily's stealthily opened to the public sometime last week. There has been barely a peep about it in the press and little internet chatter save some tweets and Foursquare checkins, which is certainly strange considering Becker's name, the prime location and the restaurant's somewhat off-beat, Tropical concept. So what exactly is going on in there?

We still have no idea. There's no signage, no menu out front, and our requests for inside photos have been shot down. For weeks, there was a constant busy signal on the phone, now there's a message that tells you to go to their website for a reservation, but there's no info on there about how to actually book a table. It does note that "The kitchen is serving daily from 6pm to 1:30am. Our 6pm seating is open to the public on a walk-in basis. Thereafter we're currently hosting private dinners."

When an Eater operative tried to stop by last week, the staff quickly shut the curtains in front. On another stop by, a hostess said yes, it was open to the public, but that they were completely booked solid for the next week. Also: both the phone message and the site call the restaurant "Miss Lily's Favourite Cakes."

All of this strangeness begs the question: is Miss Lily's the new Charles? Are they two steps away from putting paper back in the windows? If you do make it in, tell us what's going on in there.
· All Miss Lily's Coverage [~ENY~]