Celebrity Chef David Burke Is Opening a New Restaurant in Midtown

Celebrity chef David Burke has signed on to open his first new restaurant in three years at an office tower in Midtown East. According to the New York Post, the Iron Chef America star is bringing a 148-seat modern American brasserie called Park Ave Kitchen to 277 Park Avenue, between East 47th and 48th streets, in May 2023. The deal reportedly includes a 49-seat fast-casual cafe that will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Burke currently has eight restaurants in New Jersey, one on the Upper East Side, five others in New York, and a handful elsewhere.

Team behind Joyface to open new cocktail bar

More out of the East Village this week: The team behind the neighborhood’s popular nightclub Joyface is opening a cocktail bar at 102 Avenue C, between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, according to EV Grieve. The space, called HiLot, opens on November 4 with drinks, shareable plates, a clawfoot tub in its bathroom, and a back room known as “the cuddle pit” made entirely of cushions. Hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Pyramid Club ends its decades-long run

East Village haunt the Pyramid Club is out at 101 Avenue A, between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, according to EV Grieve. The decades-old nightclub closed at the onset of the pandemic, before mounting a brief comeback in the summer of 2021 and opening on weekends. On October 16, the bar announced via Instagram that it would close things out with a Halloween party on October 29, concluding a 43-year run in the East Village.

Le drama on the Lower East Side

It’s been whispered between cigarette drags in “Dimes Square” for months: The Lower East Side’s new natural wine bar Le Dive looks a lot — a lot, a lot — like Chez Jeanette, a bar of no relation in Paris’s 11th arrondissement. According to Grub Street, both spots have a “squiggly, illuminated neon” sign above their counters and similar maroon awnings out front. “Le Dive bears the uncanny, down-to-the-last-detail resemblance of a set built for the Rehearsal,” the publication writes.