East Village Empire Builder Adds a Dim Sum and Sushi Restaurant to Roster

Vegan restaurateur and cocktail bar hitmaker Ravi DeRossi is bringing another vegan restaurant to East Village at 111 East Seventh St., one door down from DeRossi’s vegan tapas spot Ladybird between First Avenue and Avenue A. The new Fire & Water, opening later this year, will veganize two cuisines at once: sushi and dim sum.

A Japanese sushi counter with 16 seats and minimalist design will occupy one part of the space, offering a vegan omakase menu and a sake list. The price for the omakase has not been set yet.

On the other side of a dividing glass wall, there will be Chinese dim sum cart service in a 36-seat, flashier space with neon lights and red decor. Vegan small plates are on the menu in the dim sum portion. There will also be beer, wine, and no-abv cocktails.

The kitchen team will be overseen by Tony Mongeluzzi, the corporate executive chef of DeRossi’s restaurant group DeRossi Global. Alongside DeRossi, Mongeluzzi also runs the kitchens at East Village cocktails spots Ladybird, Mother of Pearl, Cienfuegos, and Avant Garden, one of few fine-dining vegan restaurants in NYC. A new Avant Garden is set to open in Brooklyn in Post Office’s former space in Williamsburg, but Fire & Water grows DeRossi’s East Village presence.

Another vegan hitmaker, Matthew Kenney, has also been carving out a plant-based empire in the neighborhood, recently opening Japanese-inspired vegan restaurant Arata. Both Kenney and DeRossi have now turned to Asian cuisines for their latest vegan ventures. Not far away from DeRossi’s collection of animal product-free restaurants, Kenney has amassed his own collection of vegan spots, like Double Zero and Bar Verde.