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Music Venue OK'd to Take Over Kenny's Castaways Space

By Andrea Swalec | July 12, 2012 12:34pm
Restaurateur Sergio Riva showed Community Board 2 renderings of the bistro-slash-music venue he plans to create in the Bleecker Street folk bar Kenny's Castaways.
Restaurateur Sergio Riva showed Community Board 2 renderings of the bistro-slash-music venue he plans to create in the Bleecker Street folk bar Kenny's Castaways.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

SOHO — A music venue and restaurant could soon be moving into the popular Greenwich Village rock show space Kenny's Castaways, after its bid to take over the venue got the approval of a local community board.

Restaurateur Sergio Riva got the thumbs up to turn 157 Bleecker St. into a music venue and eatery tentatively named Carroll Place, with a few conditions from Community Board 2's State Liquor Authority committee.

"The concept is American bistro and wine bar with a lot of Italian dishes," said Riva, whose bid for the location was first reported by DNAinfo.com New York.

A working menu for the spot includes a flatbread pizza with mushroom, tomato, mozzarella and truffle oil ($10), spaghetti pomodoro ($12) and steak frites ($24). 

The rock and folk venue Kenny's Castaways has hosted now-famous musicians since 1967.
The rock and folk venue Kenny's Castaways has hosted now-famous musicians since 1967.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

Riva is planning live music four nights a week inside the 2,500-square-foot space. The final details are close to completion, according to broker Rafe B. Evans of Walker, Malloy & Company.

Riva is a partner in the Meatpacking District restaurant The Diner, located on Ninth Avenue at 14th Street, as well as in the Italian restaurant and wine bar Osteria Cotta, which is on Columbus Avenue near West 85th Street.

The CB2 committee's approval of a liquor license at the new venue is contingent on musical acts finishing by 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, as well as the restaurant's windows being closed after 10 p.m. every night, community board members said.

Riva told the CB2 committee the likely name for the new business, Carroll Place, pays homage to the original name for Bleecker Street between Thompson Street and LaGuardia Place in the 1830s. The block was then home to some of the most coveted addresses in the city, according to the New York Times. 

Kenny's Castaways has its own storied history. 

The late Patrick Kenny opened Kenny's in 1967, offering a stage for a bevy of now-famous artists including Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Buckley, Phish, Aerosmith and The Fugees. 

The liquor license application will be given a final CB2 advisory vote at the full board meeting Thursday, July 19 at 6 p.m. at Grace Church School, at 86 Fourth Ave.