WEST VILLAGE — The team behind Cafe Clover is opening an "upscale market" a few doors down from their restaurant.
Clover Grocery will carry the "wholesome healthy ingredients" used at Cafe Clover, partner Jeff Kadish told the local community board at a public meeting in March.
The store will be stocked with "oils and grains," as well as prepared foods to take away or consume at the handful of tables and chairs "available to have a salad or sandwich," Kadish said.
The space does not have a kitchen, so all of the food would be prepared at the restaurant and transported the approximately 150 yards to the grocery store a few doors down.
They also plan to rent out the space for very small, 15-person dinners, which is why they appeared before the board with an application for a beer and wine license. Kadish promised the parties "would not be on a nightly basis."
The beer and wine license will also allow them to offer people who stay to eat their prepared food a beer or glass of wine, Kadish said. They do not plan to entertain any "spillover" of diners waiting to eat at the restaurant.
They plan to be open until 9 or 10 p.m. when operating just as a grocery, and a little later when renting out the space for parties.
"This is a new venture for us to be in a market," Kadish said. But he added that "in terms of handling private parties, we do that at our other" establishments.
Kadish promised the board's State Liquor Authority committee the team would not seek a full liquor license in the future, and they were praised by members of the board as "good operators."
