Incoming: Fellini Coffee
Incoming: Fellini Coffee
The old Foragers wine shop is finally filled.
An awning came up outside what used to be the Foragers Market wine shop (8th Avenue, between 21st and 22nd, on the west side of the street), and it’s already got the Chelsea girls buzzing.
Finally, we can see what’s coming in that space: it’s a Fellini Coffee. This will be the third outpost of the Fellini scene, after locations in SoHo and the West Village, started by chef Franco Noriega, who’s also behind Baby Brasa and Tivoli Trattoria.
Fellini is a café by day, wine bar by night. They’re seeking a liquor license for wine, beer, and cider - no liquor - with opening hours of 8 a.m. to midnight every day of the week. On their site, most caffeinated drinks are listed at under $5 for smalls, so this could rival some local shops by price. Most glasses of wine, though, are about $16, so don’t expect a fully budget experience.
A peek inside as the work finishes up shows it’s a very small room, similar to the Fellini downtown. Very classic midcentury Italian-American look, with a nice bar counter and a few spaces to sit.
So why are the girls abuzz by the news? Well, we needed a third space like this.
Chelsea’s a weird kind of neighborhood. There are plenty of restaurants, cafes, and bars, and yet when it’s time to pick a place to meet with friends, it’s almost difficult to pick an appropriate place.
During the day, Kona Coffee and St. Kilda’s have good coffee, but their white walls give a utilitarian feel that doesn’t make you want to stay unless you need a place to do some focused work. The Sleeping Cat (newly opened on 7th Avenue, between 19th and 20th, on the west side of the street) seemed promising, but despite describing itself as a bakery, it curiously lacks in baked goods if you stop in for a treat. There’s that new-ish place on 8th just south of the 23rd subway station, but it’s still so covered by scaffolding we never got a good look at it.
During the evening, Twist Bar/Milk & Hops is an easy place to hang, but there’s not much room, the music’s quite loud, and we’re still not sure why they haven’t just knocked down the wall and made one big space. The Hotel Chelsea Lobby Bar is chic AF but not always the most welcoming. And then there’s all the pubs. If you just want a quiet wine bar to meet your friends, where are you going to go? Cooper’s? Peter McManus?
The obvious local comparable to the incoming Fellini is Cafe-Flor. Raul Avila has made a bustling beauty out of the space. The drinks are good, the space is cute, it’s usually easy to find a semi-secluded spot to sit with a friend or two. But when it transitions to a “bar” at night, it tends to be pretty quiet, which makes us interested to see how Fellini will fare after sunset.
Perhaps having two cafe/wine bars on the block will raise the tide for both ships and get us out of our cozy apartments as spring turns to summer. The revitalization of 8th Avenue continues to crawl uptown, from Bar Bonobo to Jungle Bird to Cafe-Flor and now to Fellini. Hope it’s good.