Where Sugar was, ‘Empire Gyro’ will Open on Monday
After months of construction (and related delays) at the corner of East Houston and Allen Streets, Empire Gyro is finally ready to start serving the Lower East Side.
The 24-hour fast-food restaurant will host the requisite friends and family event this Saturday. Grand opening to the public is next Monday (February 18), two months after the last projection.
The menu is as you might imagine, and does somewhat fill the void left by the loss of Bereket five years ago, featuring soups, salads, kebabs, and shawarma.
Owner Orhan Albayrak signed a lease on the slender, 500 square-foot commercial space last fall for an estimated annual rent of $180,000.
The no-frills, 24/7 Sugar Cafe preceded Empire Gyro by a decade before its closure two years ago. It had weathered the winds of gentrification and more than five years of roadwork at its doorstep. But an exorbitant rent increase was too much to sustain.
August 2008
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