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Shake Shack Settles Wage Suit, BMW's Brooklyn Restaurant, and More Intel

The Polo Bar's water got shut off unexpectedly, plus more news and gossip from around NYC.

[The dining room at Perry St. in the West Village]
Daniel Krieger

— The operators of Shake Shack just settled a class-action wage lawsuit filed by nine current and former managers who alleged that they were not paid adequate overtime pay. In a statement sent to DNAinfo, the Shake Shack management explains: "We believe the allegation to be untrue and we have taken steps over the years to ensure that our managers are classified appropriately....Yet, we made a strategic decision to settle the allegation, despite our position on it, in order to keep our focus on building our business, growing our terrific team and offering the best experience possible to our guests." The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount. The NYC managers were seeking $50 for every week that they did not get the correct overtime pay — or around $2,500 each.

— The police are still looking for the man who raped a 25-year-old transgender woman in the bathroom of The Stonewall Inn on Saturday. The NYPD released security footage of the man earlier this week, and NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce explained: "People inside the Stonewall know him....We hope to have him identified in the next coming days." At a news conference earlier this week, Mayor de Blasio called the incident "very troubling." He also remarked: "Look, it’s a very disturbing incident taking place in a site that’s very important historically and where something good happened in terms of creating more opportunity for people to live their lives."

The warehouse on the corner of Norman and Banker streets that previously housed the Brooklyn Night Bazaar is becoming a combination restaurant/work-share space/ studio/classroom/design store. The project on the Williamsburg-Greenpoint border, dubbed Amalgamated Drawing Office, is backed by BMW. The restaurant will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the menu will be similar to what you might find at a coffee shop. "Better than a coffee shop—like, but better," a rep tells Gothamist. The space is slated to open this summer.

Cuozzo likes the fiddlehead fern pizza at Matthew Kenney's 00 + Co., but he balks at almost everything else on the menu: "Other pies may have emerged not from a woodburning oven, but from a toaster oven. Mock-mozz was wasted on innocuous tomato sauce and a spongy crust too thick for stingy toppings: airport food. On a different pie, farro-fennel 'sausage' at least provided pleasing mouth feel: We scarfed it down and left the crust."

— From the tipline, a new Japanese restaurant is opening in Long Island City across from the police station on 50th Avenue called Takumen:

If you spot a new restaurant opening in your neighborhood, please send any photos or intel to the tipline.

The Polo Bar had to cancel all of its reservations on Monday night because the building's water was shut off without any advanced warning.

East Village chefs Marco Canora, Sara Jenkins, Bobby Hellen, and Jessi Singh are collaborating with Black Seed's Dianna Daoheung on a series of bagel sandwich specials that will run from now through the end of spring at the First Avenue outpost of the bakery. Jenkins's bagel creation hits the Black Seed EV menu today. It includes pickled turnips, labne, shaved cucumbers, and mint.

— Gowanus Korean hot spot Insa is kicking off Saturday and Sunday lunch this weekend. The lunch menu is the same as what's offered at dinner, and the drinks lists includes some new options like a Korean riff on a bloody Mary, and a "Strong Island Iced Tea." Insa is now open on the weekend from noon till midnight.

— And finally, here's a look at Oda House's mighty khachapuri: