Moscow 57 Gunning for Former Apolo Restaurant on Delancey
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It was a Lower East Side institution, albeit somewhat of a hole-in-the-wall establishment, serving Latino-Chinese fusion food. Yet, Apolo Restaurant survived for decades at 168 1/2 Delancey Street, directly in the shadows of the Williamsburg Bridge. That impressive run finally came to an end two years ago after a visit from the Department of Health ultimately resulted in shutter. Since then, a tattered leasing sign held residence on the faded yellow store marquee. We can now report, however, that a taker has finally come forward.
Moscow 57, a hospitality and entertainment company, is opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant here at 168 1/2 Delancey. The restaurant itself will feature Russian Central Asian food and a curated live events program (i.e. jazz, poetry readings, blues, folk). Principals will appear before Community Board 3 this month to obtain a full liquor license. The plan is for a small eatery that houses roughly sixty total patrons, ten of those at the bar proper.
Founder Ellen Kaye has roots in the business; her family owned the Russian Tea Room from 1947 – 1996. The following excerpt was nabbed from their website:
Moscow 57 LLC is a New York City-based hospitality and entertainment company. Founder Ellen Kaye, whose family owned The Russian Tea Room from 1947-1996 and partner Seth Goldman created Moscow 57 Entertaining a catering company and record label on the road to opening Moscow 57, a restaurant with a live music component. Moscow 57, the restaurant, will feature Russian Central Asian food and great music from a New Yorker’s perspective. For the past two years, Moscow 57 has been creating the M57 Urban Salon, evenings of music, food and digital visual art displays in locations in Harlem, Chelsea, the Upper East Side, Governor’s Island and Bridgehampton, as well as further afield in New Orleans and Connecticut.
Our M57 menu encompasses a panoramic multi-national cuisine made up of classic Russian, Georgian, Belarussian, Ukrainian dishes and the flavors of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The foods of Central Asia and the Caucasus are the lesser-known, lighter and healthier fare of warmer climes and fit contemporary tastes and life styles.
Moscow 57 will feature a mix of live jazz, blues, folk and world music after dinner nightly, which will be played on podcasts, streamed through internet radio and on our own Moscow 57 record label. Moscow 57’s first CD releases have already garnered national radio airplay. Our entertainment division is developing projects for film, television and theater.
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