HELL’S KITCHEN — The latest outpost of The Meatball Shop opening on Ninth Avenue this week will expand its offerings with meatball fondue and meatball-topped nachos served from a bar attached to the new restaurant.
The popular chain’s seventh location will officially open at 798 Ninth Ave., at the corner of West 53rd Street, Wednesday, chef and co-owner Daniel Holzman said.
The new eatery’s 52-seat dining room will serve up five kinds of meatballs, which can be ordered with sauce, in sliders and sandwiches, or on a salad.
An adjacent bar called Sidepiece, meanwhile, will have its own menu with items like “Meatball Fondue,” with mini chicken meatballs and other foods for dipping; the “Nacho Mama’s Meatballs,” with corn chips topped with crumbled pork meatballs and nacho fixings; and “Broken Ball Sloppy Joe Sliders,” with meatballs and American cheese.
Patrons will be able to access the bar — which will serve a range of cocktails, beer growlers and wine — through the main restaurant, or through a side entrance on West 53rd Street.
After the chain announced plans for the Ninth Avenue outpost in the fall, neighbors asked Holzman to move up his proposed 4 a.m. closing time, maintaining the restaurant would draw noisy late-night crowds.
After its first week, the eatery will be open from 11:30 a.m. to midnight Sundays through Thursdays and from 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, the restaurant said.
Sidepiece will be open from 5 p.m. to midnight on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; and from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, according to the release.