Enter Patricia Yeo

December 01, 2003 Fall 2000 was a time of change on the block of Stanton Street running from Orchard St. on the west to Ludlow St. on the east. On the heels of a breakup, your faithful correspondent had moved from the West Village into a sublet at 100 Stanton Street (fondly recollected as "the dorm room"). Across the street, at 99 Stanton Street, a hip, happening joint called Barrio threw open its doors, promising 24/7 cuisine with panache new to the neighborhood. Alas, the glitz did not hold, and soon tumbleweeds were blowing through as NYPress penned its pre-obituary in its 2001 Best-Of ("Best Inappropriately Named Restaurant"): "The only thing Barrio, this odd farrago of unremarkable cuisine and mixed architectural metaphors, really pays homage to is cluelessness." Perhaps, we mused after Barrio shut its doors for the last time, a block best defined by Arlene's Grocery is not the right place for fine cuisine. But lo! Comes word that superstar chef Patricia Yeo (formerly chef at AZ and Pazo, and a noted rising star) is coming to the LES to open her own restaurant, Naga—at 99 Stanton. The space, as one can tell from Barrio's still-active Citysearch listing, is bright and welcoming. Our spy, who spoke with Ms. Yeo, reports this exchange: "'I got the space before it ever went on the market,'" she said, to which I replied, 'So you have a pretty good rent then, huh?' 'Ummm, yes, I'd say so.' Damn, so Misrahi really DOSEN'T own the neighborhood! Oh, and opening day wont be for 'a while,' she grimaces." (That's spring 2004 officially, summer 2004 in reality, to you.) Ms. Yeo, welcome to the LES! We await your plywood with glee.

This breaks my heart. Anyone who has worked for Ms. Yeo knows that she is horrible and her cooking is at times, questionable. Barrio was my favorite rest when I lived down the street. When it closed I contacted the owner Y.O. of Cafe Orlin & Moogador on behalf of my boyfriend. The space was just left and all of the equip is top o' the line. Some great fucking pastries should come out of there too. We made a bid but found out that someone had out bid us by almost double. The price he tole us was $16,000/mo. plus "key money". Sounds like good rent to me.

Posted by: MLH at December 2, 2003 06:11 PM