OPENINGS
Looking to enjoy some vino with your High Line view? Terroir at the Porch re-opened for the season this week just north of the park's West 14th Street entrance. The outdoor, communal-seating restaurant is the only place you can (legally) enjoy alcohol on the High Line, and it has a robust menu of wine and beer, along with locally-sourced salads, paninis, and Italian sandwiches.
Can't get enough seafood? The Lobster Place in Chelsea Market recently began serving up fishy lunches and dinners at Cull & Pistol, the shop's next-door sitdown location. The new restaurant at 75 Ninth Ave. offers up seafood-based favorites, along with a raw bar that features a rotating menu of oysters and more.
Manon, a new three-floor American spot features a menu chef Tae Strain, opened in April, serving American favorites made with seasonal ingredients. The gregariously-decorated restaurant at 407 W. 14th St. features meaty cuts like Amish Chicken Breast topped wih a fried egg and Denver lamb loin with Maitake mushrooms and pears.
CLOSINGS
Long a popular spot known for its booze-filled, $12 all-you-can-drink brunches, Vintage served up its last bottomless mimosa. The spot at 753 Ninth Ave., popular with Broadway actors along with locals, closed at the end of April with a rollicking final few days of parties.
"We thank you for sharing your birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, weddings, bridal and baby showers, births, bon voyages, [and] successes in commercials, movies, music, television and stage," said a sign on the bar's entrance after it closed.
A mainstay of both local lunches and late-night club-goers, Pop Burger at 58-60 Ninth Avenue closed at the start of May. Hyped up as a "glamorous burger joint," the spot served cocktails and had a lounge, but couldn't hack it in its Chelsea Triangle location. The chain has two other locations around the city — in Midtown and near NYU.
On the Horizon
Affordable gym chain Blink Fitness plans to open a new 15,500 square foot location in the ground floor of Chelsea Park at 308 Eighth Ave., complete with weights, strength training machines, treadmills and more. The gym's other locations cost as little at $15 a month, and the new Chelsea location will likely have a comparable prince.
Hell's Kitchen is about to get a rash of new bars, including the tiny 22-person Pocket Bar at 455 W. 48th St., featuring craft spirits, a cocktail menu, and microbrews, and Mamasita's Bar and Grill at the former home of Fusion at 818 10th Ave., which promises to be a "quiet neighborhood gathering space" with a light menu of appetizers, pub grub and entrees.
