Former Commerce Space Will Turn Into Seafood Restaurant By Landlord's Son

The West Village space that used to house Harold Moore's Commerce Restaurant will soon be a seafood restaurant run by the landlord's son, DNAinfo reports. New restaurateur Alex Kingman, 26, likely won't deal with the same issue that Moore did — Moore's popular restaurant only closed last summer after a legal battle with the landlord. The chef called it a "technicality" due to a missed filing during the restaurant's renovations.

The kitchen of Kingman's new 91-seat restaurant at 50 Commerce St. will be run by Luis Jaramillo, a chef from BR Guest seafood place Blue Water Grill, according to DNAinfo. It's an "American restaurant with South American influence," Kingman says, with menu items like a charred octopus with potato and pickled jalapeno, seafood salad, and tuna tartare. Kingman is currently a graduate student at New York University's business school, and his parents, Judith and Richard, still live on the top floor of the building.

Meanwhile, Moore has other, more casual projects in the works. He's planning to open a spinoff of Commerce called Commerce Sweet Shop and a meat-and-three restaurant in the Tommie Hotel called Harold's Meat + 3. He also recently helped open a version of CBGB in the Newark Airport.