"The space has got an amazing energy. As soon as I walked in there, I knew." That is Thomas Straker talking to Eater New York about the old Lucky Strike at 59 Grand Street. He said the lease took about six months to negotiate and he signed it in April of last year. The build ran 12 months late and about $2 million over budget. Straker's officially opened on Saturday, October 10, Eater New York reported.
It was the last of four openings in the same corner of SoHo. Between September 10 and October 10, Bar Leone, Kythira NP, Good Company and Straker's all opened within a few blocks of Grand Street and West Broadway. Three of them moved into rooms that were already set up for drinking and dining. Each keeps different hours. Together, the southern edge of SoHo now covers a whole evening, from a 4 p.m. table to a downstairs dance floor, without a trip north to Prince or Spring.
Three rooms that were already set up for nightlife
None of this started from scratch. Straker's sits in the former Lucky Strike, and Straker told Eater that the Post Company interiors carry "nods to Lucky Strike" while the old kitchen was torn out for an open kitchen and an open bar.
Good Company, at 343 West Broadway between Broome and Grand, took over the address where Little Ways, a 1970s-style bistro and cocktail bar, opened in February 2020, Hoodline reported. The new tenant is Out of Office Hospitality, the team behind Yesterday's on Bleecker Street, with chef Robert Sieber, formerly of Jungsik and The Surf Lodge, running the kitchen.
Bar Leone, at 527 Broome Street at Watts, is the most direct handoff. It fills the 4,800-square-foot space that held Her Name Was Carmen, and it has the same restaurateur, Andres Diaz. Time Out New York reported that Diaz spent two years developing the lounge with the design firm BOND.
Kythira NP is the one true debut. Eater New York's September openings roundup describes it as the first solo restaurant from chef Nicholas Poulmentis, and it opened Monday, September 21, at 32 Grand Street on the corner of Thompson.
These operators reworked rooms that already had kitchens, bars and a nighttime following. That is a different bet from opening a first restaurant on an untested block, and it explains how four places could open in a single month.
How the hours stack up
The hours are what tie these four together. Each one opens at a different time, so the corner covers more of the evening than any single room could.
| Room | Address | Doors | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kythira NP | 32 Grand St, at Thompson | 4 p.m., 3 p.m. Sunday | Daily |
| Straker's | 59 Grand St, at West Broadway | 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. | Daily |
| Bar Leone | 527 Broome St, at Watts | 6 p.m., closing varies | Wednesday to Saturday |
| Good Company | 343 West Broadway | After-work drinks through dinner | Bookings via Resy |
Kythira's website lists 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 4 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. That makes it the earliest table on the corner. Straker's serves every night from 5 to 11. Hoodline reported that Good Company was designed to work for everything from an after-work drink to a full meal later in the evening. Bar Leone opens at 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday only, so on Monday and Tuesday the corner runs on the other three.
What to order at each
Kythira NP. The restaurant's own site names three dishes that best express the menu: Black Truffle Tarama, handmade Goat Cheese Gnocchi, and Perka in Parchment, which it says evokes Poulmentis's family dinners by the harbor on Kythira. Eater adds ceviche, oysters, stuffed calamari, lamb chops and a vegetarian moussaka. A Mediterranean brunch menu has been announced.
Straker's. Start with the mussel flatbread with chile butter, listed at $23 on the current dinner menu. Straker told Eater it is the one dish definitely coming over from London: 48-hour cold-fermented dough, mussels cooked down in wine, and a chile butter made from the reduced stock, all baked in the wood oven. "I can guarantee it'll still be there in 10 years if we're lucky enough to be there," he said. Larger plates range from a $38 grilled half chicken to a $125 grilled T-bone, with wood-roasted Dover sole at $88. Australian chef Luka Coyne runs the kitchen.
Good Company. Eater New York's October openings roundup listed focaccia toast with pimento goat cheese and pickled celery, wagyu French dip sliders, burgers, and a build-your-own banana split. The cocktail list includes an espresso martini with labneh foam. The Infatuation describes a bi-level bar with a huge disco ball and a vaguely French menu.
Bar Leone. Upstairs is a midcentury martini lounge that also works as a gallery, with exhibitions changing every three to four months. Downstairs is a red-velvet Italo-disco room with a dance floor. Time Out priced the caviar martini at $45, the dry-aged short-rib burger with Taleggio at $36, and full caviar service at $135. Reservations go through the Bar Leone website.
Up on Spring and Prince, most of the new openings serve the daytime
A few blocks north, most of the same season's openings are daytime businesses. According to Eater New York's September roundup, ÓOL opened September 9 at 178 Spring Street. Founder Ilana Gutierrez sells single-origin cacao from Ecuador, Colombia and Belize, along with pastries made with Breads Bakery. La Salumeria Soho, at 195 Spring Street on the corner of Sullivan, comes from chef Salvo Lo Castro of the restaurant next door, Casasalvo. It sells $15 Italian sandwiches and is open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Patch reported that Sandwell opened its third Manhattan location at 157 Prince Street, a 12-seat shop with a "flip for 50" promotion from 3 to 6 p.m. On the eastern side, Rye by Martin Auer opened September 10 at 285 Lafayette Street. It sells rye-only loaves at $60 each, plus slices with toppings such as salmon roe.
ROMY is the main evening exception up north. It is a steakhouse in the old Little Prince space at 199 Prince Street, with chef Lucrezia Stella cooking black-truffle lasagna and a dry-aged wagyu porterhouse. Eater dates its debut to September 22. Saint-Denis, a wine bar and bistro from Golden Age Hospitality, also debuted September 22, at 490 LaGuardia Place on the Houston Street edge. Even so, the northern blocks gained mostly bakeries, cafés and sandwich counters, while the southern blocks gained places to spend a whole night.
The street outside is under review too
The same stretch of Grand Street is part of NYC DOT's proposed redesign of Canal Street. DOT's July 2026 Phase 1 presentation combines Canal Street west of Broadway with a protected two-way bike lane on the south curb of Grand Street. Its design drawings for the lane cover Grand Street from Broadway eastward. Closer to the new restaurants, the deck shows new curb extensions at the Holland Tunnel's Exit 2 and Watts Street, a slow turn box at Broadway and Grand, and proposed left-turn bans at Greene Street and West Broadway to send northbound traffic onto other routes.
The curb rules matter for anyone booking a table here. In a September 23 letter to Community Board 2, DOT proposed commercial metered parking during the day along Grand Street. In the evening, many blocks would switch to passenger metered parking until midnight, which DOT says is meant to increase turnover and reduce double parking. The deck's timeline puts Grand Street work in "Fall 2026." DOT was scheduled to present the Grand Street bike lane to CB2's Traffic and Transportation Committee on October 21 at P.S. 130, according to the SoHo Broadway Initiative. The plan is still a proposal, and CB2's calendar is the place to follow the next steps.
For now, the practical facts are simple. On any night of the week, Kythira opens first on the corner of Thompson, and Straker's serves until 11 a block east at West Broadway. From Wednesday through Saturday, Bar Leone opens at 6 p.m. on Broome Street with a dance floor downstairs.
If you own near Grand Street and want to understand what this season means for your building, Devin Hugh Leahy is glad to talk it through. Inquire Now.
