Nightlife Impresario Travis Bass Looks to Open Cafe at Former Petisco on East Broadway
Photo: Sara Graham
Travis Bass, nightlife impresario and party maker, is breaking out on his own. Planning a new establishment on the Lower East Side.
Bass is eying the former Cafe Petisco (last known as Petisco Vegano) on East Broadway for something quite similar to the predecessor. An as-yet-unnamed concept that imbibes a “European healthy restaurant.” As such, his application for full liquor license will go before Community Board 3 for consideration in July.
Travis Bass is no stranger to the area, having spent the better part of two decades here, including a brief stint at the Jarmulowsky Bank building long before its current hotel conversion. However, he is perhaps best known for his connection to the fables ‘90s nightlife scene.
Bass reportedly visited for work in 1998, and eventually met Peter Gatien, the nightlife kingpin who was later toppled by tax evasion charges and deported to Canada. Gatien had hired him to outfit nightclubs like the Tunnel and Limelight. “Peter wasn’t always the best at paying, but he got me to New York,” Bass previously told the New York Times.
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