Starr and Carroll's Bowery Steakhouse Shows Signs of Life, Arousing Fresh Opposition

A year ago, big box restaurant king Stephen Starr and Joe Carroll from Fette Sau and St. Anselm, announced plans to open a restaurant in the Bowery Bunker space next door to Pearl & Ash. The pair appeared before the community board (and some angry neighbors) last December, ultimately got the initial go ahead from CB2 and then nothing. The project seemed to slip into a coma.

Now, the "approachable steakhouse" is showing signs of life again, notes Bowery Boogie, but so are its NIMBY opponents. The team, which has now christened the restaurant Room 222, recently submitted its liquor license to the SLA, stirring up new fury from neighbors who claim there are too many liquor-serving establishments in the area already. They've now revived the fight to get the restaurant's liquor license denied, on the grounds that the plan violates a 1987 agreement that tenants of the building signed, which doesn't allow the space to be used for a restaurant. The hearing to determine whether the restaurant will provide "public benefit" (and therefore whether it will get its liquor license) is scheduled for Thursday, and things are not expected to go smoothly. 222 Bowery, Nolita

Update: Room 222 is not the tentative name of the restaurant. The team is still looking for a name.