Nature is healing. After a slow year for Midtown, in which many restaurants were open for dinner only, Manhattan’s corporate card-wielding lunch crowd is apparently back in action, the New York Post reports.
During the pandemic, C-suite executives were reportedly forced to subsist on grain bowls and group orders of Chipotle like the rest of us, but several upscale restaurants are once again serving lunch, emboldened by higher office occupancy numbers and the recent return of Broadway. Establishments like the Grill, Le Pavillon, Marea, Charlie Palmer Steak, and Le Bernardin have all reopened for the mid-day meal in recent weeks, the latter with a three-course, $115 menu.
A decades-old chocolate shop in Manhattan is at risk of closing
New Yorkers are rallying behind decades-old candy shop Myzel’s Chocolates after its owner was served an eviction notice by the building’s landlord last month. Owner Kamila Myzel, who reportedly hasn’t been able to pay rent since April 2020, has received more than $7,000 in donations as part of a GoFundMe campaign to cover back rent payments. Instagram influencer Nicolas Heller, better known as @newyorknico, called on his followers to support the chocolate shop in an Instagram post that’s since garnered over 20,000 likes.
Ubiquitous coffee cart company Blank Street nabs $25 million in funding
Brooklyn-based coffee company Blank Street has raised a staggering $25 million from investors, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. The budding coffee empire, which started with a single outdoor coffee cart in Williamsburg last summer, is on a war path to open 100 locations in New York City by 2022, according founders Issam Freiha and Vinay Menda.
Introducing: By Dan Kluger
The chain formerly known as By Chloe has brought on celebrated chef Daniel Kluger to help sell its veggie burgers. Beatnic, as the company’s now known, is working with the Loring Place chef on a $12 kabocha squash burger only available at its Greenwich Village flagship, which reopened on October 13, through October 29.