Fine Dining Legend Shun Lee Reopens Following Health Department Shutter

Shun Lee reopens following Health Department shutter, while Burke & Wills seized by the state

Following a more-than-weeklong shutter by the Health Department for violations like roaches and mice, 36-year-old fine dining Chinese restaurant Shun Lee has reopened on the Upper West Side. It is currently grade pending. Meanwhile, the Department of Health closed two other UWS restaurants, Sal & Carmine’s at 2671 Broadway and Mimi Japanese Restaurant at 566 Amsterdam Avenue, West Side Rag reports. Popular UWS Australian restaurant Burke & Wills has also been closed — but for alleged tax evasion. The state seized the restaurant on Wednesday afternoon, with a note on the door citing “nonpayment of taxes.”

Popular Brooklyn dive bar to close

Beloved Brooklyn dive bar and live music venue Hank’s Saloon will close at the end of 2018. The shutter has been years in the making, with a developer trying to raze the building and start anew for years, but plans have finally been approved. Owner Julie Ipcar wrote on Facebook that “it deeply saddens me that one of the last NYC bars of this kind will no longer exist. These places are extremely special to New York and add genuine heart and soul to the community,” Bedford and Bowery reports.

A Staten Island taqueria with arcade opens this weekend

A questionably named restaurant called Gringo’s Taco Arcade is opening its location on Staten Island on Saturday. The restaurant serves tacos filled with pork belly, tempura shrimp, Korean-style short rib, and grilled chicken, as well as nine different kinds of margaritas. Besides tacos the sprawling restaurant also offers arcade games.

Salt Bae explores the idea of a burger joint

Social media star and Turkish butcher Salt Bae was spotted down in the Financial District, allegedly scouting out some new restaurant spaces. While Bae — aka Nusret Gökçe — is close to opening a steakhouse at 60 West 53rd Street, he is also considering opening a burger joint, according to a chef he is working with here.

Yet another profile on Danny Bowien

Mission Chinese owner Danny Bowien — the guy currently starring in this season’s Mind of a Chef — gets the profile treatment from GQ. Of note: The Korean-born chef claims that he got abs from doing SoulCycle. Despite a TV show exploring his life and this profile and this profile — from GQ too! — here’s the new one should people want to know more.

Consider a jaunt down to Philly for these addictive tehina milkshakes