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\n Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photos: Daryn Deluca, Getty\n <\/p>\n
In this series, \u201cLooking to Settle<\/a>,\u201d Eddie Huang chronicles his search for a downtown restaurant space. In the previous installment, Huang wrote about his search for a restaurant operator<\/a> for a West Village pocket listing<\/a>. <\/p>\n About eight minutes after the Dapper Gentleman sat down at Gazebo<\/a>, I asked Natashia to hand-deliver a plate of baos to his table.<\/p>\n \u201cHow\u2019d it go?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cKind of odd. I brought the baos you sent, and he said he didn\u2019t order them.\u201d \u201cWassup. How was dinner?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGreat, great. This is my friend Amir.\u201d He gestured to his dining companion.<\/p>\n \u201cNice to meet you, Amir. You enjoyed everything?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it was great. Great.\u201d<\/p>\n The conversation was dry. There was no volley. Just dead on impact.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right, then. Thank you for coming.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s talk next week.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure. Sounds good.\u201d<\/p>\n I walked away. Mentally, I might have been doing the same. By this point, I was exhausted by the whole back-and-forth. Either you want to do business with me or you don\u2019t. I told myself that if the Dapper Gentleman did reach out, I would meet him, but if not, I would move on. Plus, I still had two more days of pop-up dinners staring me in the face. I didn\u2019t have time to play footsie anymore.<\/p>\n The next morning, I hit a wall. My back hurt, my feet stank, and I was listening to Jimmy Buffett when I decided to walk out of the kitchen to get a coffee. Usually I go to Dunkin\u2019 Donuts to get a Cereal N\u2019 Milk Latte, but they\u2019d been running out of the syrup. I had also seen a\u00a0video that morning about people losing their feet to diabetes and thought maybe I\u2019d just get an iced coffee with sugar-free hazelnut syrup and die of aspartame rather than live without a foot.<\/p>\n When I crossed Orchard, I saw a couple of dudes with matchas, sardonic dad hats, totes, wired headphones, and black sunglasses. I immediately recognized that, minus the matcha, this was my performative male tribe. I didn\u2019t know these people, but we nodded to each other, and I peeped the coffee shop they had come from.<\/p>\n I walked over as if I\u2019d already been several times because when you pull up to an IYKYK spot you absolutely should have known was in your Venn diagram, the key is to act like you\u2019ve been pulling up. No one likes the person who starts anxiously sharing their unsolicited opinions about the chairs, the d\u00e9cor, or the graphic design, who\u2019s snapping their fingers saying \u201cyass\u201d to everything, then sitting down to read page one of Infinite Jest. Just put in your wired headphones and act like you\u2019ve been coming for years until someone talks to you.<\/p>\n \u201cEddie! What\u2019s up, man?\u201d I heard from behind me.<\/p>\n It was my buddy Daryn, a talented director I\u2019d always identified more with L.A. He was wearing a Martin Scorsese hat in the end-crawl font from Casino that I quite liked because I\u2019m also a nerd who communicates through likes and dislikes.<\/p>\n \u201cMy guy! What are you doing over here?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m helping Roman with a few things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, this is Roman\u2019s spot?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, yeah. Roman from Regina\u2019s. You know him, right?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh yeah, I know of him but never properly met. What\u2019s this?\u201d I said, pointing to the name of the coffee shop, MxdIn<\/a>, I couldn\u2019t pronounce.<\/p>\n \u201cMixed-in, meaning mixed ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWord, word,\u201d I said, copping to my ignorance.<\/p>\n \u201cBro, you should meet Roman. He\u2019s doing a lot of things out here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNah, I seen it since Regina\u2019s. I lived on the first floor across the street from Regina\u2019s when he opened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo way! You live in the neighborhood?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNah, I\u2019m just over at the Flower Shop now, doing the pop-up. You should come by sometime.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI heard about that! I\u2019ll tell Roman, too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAite, bet. See you, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n I got a fantastic iced latte with date syrup and whole milk, then walked back to the Flower Shop. The dinners that night were solid but uneventful, which I appreciated. It felt nice to have a smooth service without the HVAC dying<\/a> or someone curving me.<\/p>\n The next afternoon, I went to MxdIn again instead of Dunkin\u2019, and my foot thanked me. Daryn was there once again and so were random homies I knew from Miami as well as one of the partners at the Flower Shop. It was a family affair, and I couldn\u2019t believe I\u2019d been expending all my calories at Dunkin\u2019 on Grand Street for two months when this place was here.<\/p>\n Just as I got in line, Roman popped out.<\/p>\n \u201cEddie, I want you to meet Roman,\u201d said Daryn.<\/p>\n \u201cMy guy. Pleasure to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSame, same. Welcome, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019d always had a lot of respect for Roman. I\u2019d watched him open Regina\u2019s on Orchard years ago and immediately clocked that he was about family and tradition as well. He didn\u2019t do any corny chef stuff, just opened a neighborhood Italian deli named after his mother, filled it with family photos, and served very well liked sandwiches.<\/p>\n Truth be told, I was always jealous of Regina\u2019s because David Laven, the showrunner of my Viceland travel show, Huang\u2019s World,<\/a> was always eating there and gassing it up. For years, I\u2019d known Baohaus was David\u2019s favorite sandwich shop, but then Regina\u2019s kind of took our spot in his heart and mind. And David, being one of my all-time favorite humans who was unfortunately (or fortunately) also my boss, meant I had to immediately dislike Regina\u2019s and never eat there.<\/p>\n I started asking Roman how he got into the business, and I discovered he was a former DJ like most of my friends and came up in the party scene. Then he asked what I was up to. Usually, I sidestep, get elusive, or mentally twirl because I don\u2019t always like people knowing what I\u2019m doing, but I immediately liked Roman. As Foreigner\u2019s Waiting for a Girl Like You<\/a> started pulsing through my mind,\u00a0I imagined myself selling Chinese food on the Lower East Side with Roman, the wind at our backs and the sun shining on our faces. And most of this positive feeling was the direct result of Roman\u2019s ability to do one thing most men cannot: make direct eye contact.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t look at people\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9s or LinkedIn or ask who they know. None of that tells me anything. If I\u2019m actually considering doing business with someone, I remember what my father taught me.<\/p>\n When I was about 6 years old, I was hanging with my father, who was selling furniture at my grandpa\u2019s store, Better Homes Furniture, and I sat in his chair.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you doing in my chair?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to be a businessman.\u201d<\/p>\n He had me get up.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay, if you want to do business, stand up straight.\u201d<\/p>\n I followed his instructions.<\/p>\n \u201cFeet flat, back straight, chin up. You got it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d I said, scared of every command.<\/p>\n \u201cChest out. Make eye contact. Show confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay,\u201d I said, trying my best to look like I meant business.<\/p>\n \u201cNow look me in the eyes and shake my hand. No, firm. Shake hand have to be firm. Let me know you\u2019re a man I can trust.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s what was running in the background of my processing system while I was speaking to Roman.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should come over for dinner tonight. It\u2019s our last night in August,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cTonight? Lemme see if I have the sitter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can come, I\u2019ll get you a four-top. Bring the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n That night at the pop-up, we were hosting my friend\u2019s album-release party in the basement, so I\u2019d spent most of the night downstairs with the band when Daryn came down.<\/p>\n \u201cYo! We\u2019re about to leave but just wanted to say thank you!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh shit, my bad, I gotta go say wassup to Roman.\u201d<\/p>\n I ran up, and Roman was there waiting.<\/p>\n \u201cDinner was fantastic. Thank you, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course! Of course, thank you for coming. Apologies, I was in the basement.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll good, brother. I see what you\u2019re doing. Let\u2019s keep talking.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n I shook his hand, and of course the man\u2019s handshake was firm. After months of back-and-forth with the Dapper Gentleman, this was what I needed. A man who knew what he wanted.<\/p>\n The next week, he texted me.<\/p>\n \n A stretch of Allen Street with a handful of vacant retail spots. \u201cCheck out that corridor of Allen below Grand. I think that area and Two Bridges has opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n I happened to be in the neighborhood taping a podcast, so I started to walk around. Roman was right. While 9 Orchard<\/a> already had Corner Bar on Allen, and Bridges<\/a> was only a couple blocks away, there was still a lot of untapped opportunity in this corridor. There were still restaurant-equipment stores, a print shop with no customers, and another shop advertising computer construction that looked decrepit. But among those businesses from another era, there was a shop named Title of Work with a nice font and an art gallery that also sold thoughtful home goods. I\u2019d seen this happen ten years ago on Bowery between Houston and Delancey when all the restaurant-equipment stores turned over, and now it was happening on Allen.<\/p>\n \n A mix of design shops and older retail on Allen Street. I walked the whole area and then walked East Broadway all the way down to Ernesto\u2019s looking for vacancies as well. After being gone for so long, it felt like home \u2014 a neighborhood I understood \u2014 as opposed to the West Village, where I really hadn\u2019t spent much time. It\u2019s probably my inferiority complex talking, but the West Village always seemed too nice for me. You can accumulate wealth and ascend as far as you want in life, but there is an undeniable comfort in areas that mirror your formative sociological habitat and familial upbringing. Despite watching Sex and the City front to back multiple times, I\u2019m a kid who spent a lot of time at Chinese school and Dong-A Trading Corp. picking at bean sprouts, so I\u2019m significantly more comfortable in a partly Chinese neighborhood like the Lower East Side, doing business with a guy like Roman who upholds immigrant values.<\/p>\n The next week, I had a catch-up meeting with the Dapper Gentleman, but I was already checked out. We decided to meet at his restaurant Casablanca, which happened to be in the neighborhood Roman suggested I keep an eye on.<\/p>\n It was really a beautiful restaurant he had built. There isn\u2019t a single thing I\u2019d change, I thought to myself. We walked to another one of his locations in the area, and along the way I shared updates on the West Village pocket opportunity. It piqued his interest. Then he said something completely unexpected.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d love to do something in that location with Amir, the guy I brought to dinner. He wants to work on a concept with me that works in that neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, Amir?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah. We\u2019ve been talking about doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n After asking for months to work together, here he was talking about a location I\u2019d found for a concept he had with someone else. Frankly, it pissed me off.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you have the bandwidth to work on this many concepts?\u201d I asked him point-blank.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the issue. I don\u2019t. I also have to wind down a couple things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight.\u201d<\/p>\n I remembered that when I had gone on Resy months ago to look at Casablanca, every prime-time table had been available. It wasn\u2019t a secret that this place was empty several nights a week. I was sick of dancing around the topic and just went for it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll plug you with the broker and landlord for the West Village spot if you\u2019d be open to me doing something with Casablanca,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you have in mind?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I\u2019m down to put Gazebo in there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s that mean, though?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou tell me. Either it\u2019s a partnership or I ask my investors to do a buyout.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t expect to talk about this, so I need a minute. But there\u2019s something there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I think it\u2019s beneficial to both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n I walked out with mixed feelings. I had spent months wanting to work with him, but I\u2019d also read the writing on the wall and didn\u2019t need to figure out why he was more interested in working with Amir, or anyone else for that matter. I needed to focus on the people who wanted to work with me.<\/p>\n So I went to see Roman at MixedIn.<\/p>\n \u201cYo!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYo! What\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI walked the blocks you were mentioning, and I agree that\u2019s where things are happening.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah. You know what\u2019s going to happen on those blocks, but we\u2019re still early enough to get a deal. I like it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlso I came across something. You know that spot Casablanca?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be available.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBro, that\u2019s my lease.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s my lease. I got him that lease.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Curbed Newsletter<\/p>\n A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
It was a bit strange but whatever. About 20 minutes after we sent the mains, I walked over to the table myself, hoping for the best since I really wanted to work with him.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4fa4fca5b8deb922867191faf3e7733814-IMG-5931.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Photo: Sukjong Hong\n <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1581c9074f50884eebaad11b0860abe2eb-IMG-5965--1-.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Photo: Sukjong Hong\n <\/p>\n