‘Vandal’ Identified as Chris Santos-TAO Venture on the Bowery
This image has been archived or removed.
Hound, the real vandal of 199 Bowery
More than five months into renovations, the joint TAO-Chris Santos venture at 199 Bowery has finally been named. Behold, Vandal.
As previously reported, Vandal takes a page from sister spot Beauty & Essex, and will include an up-front faux “gallery” entrance. The restaurant will seat some three hundred people across three dining rooms on the main level, and include a basement “lounge.” Menu remains variable at this point, with an ambiguous description of “globally-inspired small plates.” No idea WTF that means.
Anyway, programming in the forward entrance will revolve periodically to include anything from a flower shop to a music store (what they call “a little surprise”). As the name Vandal suggests, the overall theme for the concept is a “street art vibe,” with muralists Shepard Fairey and Hush already confirmed for artwork.
Community Board 3 approved the full liquor license application back in July. The Tao crew ultimately agreed to stipulations of 1am closing times during the week and 2am on weekends; 3am closing time all days for the basement lounge. Full liquor was approved for both levels.
The TAO Group takes the torch from EMM Group, as we first reported last March. The latter couldn’t make ends meet (an understatement) and were a constant thorn in the side of the neighborhood. Particularly for those living in the building itself at 199 Bowery.
Recent Stories
This Mott Street ATM Gouges with 17% Fee
Storefront ATMs are nothing new. In fact, their ubiquity was so pronounced that the city banned freestanding ones from sidewalks about a decade ago. Visitors to Chinatown or the Lower East Side unfamiliar with bank ATM locations when in need of cash might not realize the exorbitant fees some ATM operators are charging. For instance, […]
Bongos Taps into Orchard Street with ‘Gala Dinners’
The principals behind five-year-old Kind Regards on Ludlow Street – Michael Bray and Noble Harris – are together joining the party south of the Delancey Divide with a new hangout called Bongos. Bongos opened at 85 Orchard Street earlier this month – on the museum block – reactivating the storefront left vacant by An Choi two […]
Blockchain Company Anchors Sunshine Cinema Replacement Tower
The glassy office building that replaced the beloved Sunshine Cinema has its first tenant. And an anchor, at that. The arrival of San Francisco-based Solana Labs comes mere weeks after the sidewalk bridge outside 141 East Houston came down (thereby freeing Yonah Schimmel from bondage). Solana Labs, a blockchain company, reportedly signed a lease for […]
Man Shot and Killed on Q Train at Canal Street in Unprovoked Attack
A straphanger was shot and killed Sunday morning on a Q train just off the Manhattan Bridge in what investigators are calling an unprovoked attack. The 48-year-old victim, whose name is not released, was shot in the chest around 11:40am yesterday while riding a northbound Q train that was pulling into the Canal Street station, […]
Demolition Begins at Fire-Stricken Dim Sum Palace Building in Chinatown
Demolition started this week at 6 Chatham Square, which, until this month, housed neighborhood favorite Dim Sum Palace. Early morning May 1, a fire in the kitchen spread throughout the building, triggering a five-alarm response from the fire department. All told, five firefighters were injured battling the inferno over several hours. And according to Red […]
