UPPER WEST SIDE — City Bakery offshoot Birdbath Bakery is opening its third location in the neighborhood in as many years, the owner said.
The new spot, at West 73rd Street and Columbus Avenue, will open next Wednesday in the space formerly occupied by Arte Cafe, confirmed owner Maury Rubin.
For the first time, Birdbath plans to serve wine, beer and cider, he noted. If a pending liquor license is approved, the eatery will feature a rotating menu of two beers, two wines and two ciders, Rubin explained.
The wine offered will be "very strictly local and regional, from... maybe as south as Virginia, but mainly from Long Island and New York state, and craft beer from the city," he said.
The new location, which Rubin hopes will feel more like a hangout spot, will stay open until 10 or 11 p.m., he said.
Along with coffee, baked goods, pizza and salads, the new Birdbath will also feature small plates of savory dishes for dinner during the extended hours. The specifics of the menu are still getting worked out, Rubin noted.
Like its other locations, food and drinks will be ordered at the counter and not from waitstaff, he said.
The new spot will join the Broadway and West 80th Street location that opened last year, as well as a Columbus and West 85th Street location that opened in 2012.
Each Birdbath feels a little different, but all of them have the same feel in terms of their interior design, Rubin explained.
The "light" and "airy" 500-square-foot space will seat between 12 and 18 people at barstools along the windows, as well as at an oval communal table at the center of the eatery, he said.
The layout and the furniture was purchased with the idea of making the bakery feel more like a "living room" than a restaurant, Rubin added.
"Some people will embrace it and love it to death, and some people will think it’s a bit more unusual," he said.
The Birdbath look will be even more accentuated at this location than others, he said.
"This place has vintage wallpaper, some very beautiful one-of-a-kind vintage furniture, some vintage fabrics" all from the 1960s and sourced by Rubin, he said.
There are also '60s-era lighting fixtures and a day bed, he said.
"We really took what was usable from what had been a very dark, foreboding, morose wine bar," Rubin said of the former tenant. "We painted and brightened it and lightened it and gave it beautiful features."
Though there are two other Birdbaths within a dozen blocks, Rubin said their success spurred him to add another in the neighborhood.
"I’m really excited about it," he added.
