Asia de Cuba Rumored for Alex Guarnaschelli's Original Butter Space on Lafayette Street

It has been over a year and a half since the original location of Alex Guarnaschelli's Butter restaurant shuttered at 415 Lafayette Street. The restaurant ostensibly closed for renovations that were supposed to last just two months, but those months have stretched into years, and now Eater hears that Jeffrey Chodorow's China Grill Management may be taking over the space to bring the Latin-Asian fusion mini-chain Asia de Cuba back to the city after a four year hiatus. To back that rumor up, the Facebook page for Asia de Cuba NYC currently lists its address at 415 Lafayette Street.

While those "renovations" were underway in Noho, Guarnaschelli opened a Midtown outpost of Butter, which is still going strong a year later. The NYC Asia de Cuba shut down back in 2011. China Grill Management continues to operate a locations of the restaurant in London and Abu Dhabi, but also recently closed outposts in Miami and Los Angeles. Eater has reached out to both restaurants, and while Butter has yet to respond, a representative for China Grill Management states that they are "not ready to comment on this space." The China Grill website, meanwhile, does promise that an NYC location is "coming soon."