Openings

Eddie Huang Thinks His Baohaus Customers Suck, Plans ‘Abrasive Vibe’ at Crackhaus

Photo: NYT

You’ll remember Boahaus’s Eddie Huang as one of the chefs who loves to shoot his mouth off via Twitter (the other, Joe Dobias, seems to have canceled his account, and a new one, JoeD_Oh, may or may not be a parody à la Ruth Bourdain. The author of Ruth B, by the way, recently stepped forward, albeit behind a voice scrambler). Anyway, now Huang is serving up some more blog fodder.

Yesterday he told Feast that he thinks he was thwarted from taking over the former Guss’ Pickles space (where he had hoped to open a fried-chicken joint) because the owner of An Choi didn’t want another Asian concept next door. And on his own blog, Huang has some choice words about the Lower East Side, home of his forthcoming Orchard Street restaurant Crackhaus.

I do hate the LES above Delancey and west of Norfolk. Ever since Libation and Spitzer’s came it sucked. I mean, it started sucking a little before that, but spitzer’s was extra sucky. Its a good bar and I go there when no one else is there, it just attracts really shitty people after 5pm. Clinton is still cool and I like the Baohaus block, but when we were looking for locations we wanted something below Delancey. Then we thought, why not do a place above Delancey that we would want to hang out at? That’s what all my homies have been begging for the last few years. I remember when BOB was dope (its still cool, just too packed) and there were random no name places like the bar on orchard with a fish tank full of dead fish in the front that played 80s mashups (around 2003, gone now … ). I was never sober enough to remember the name, I just always ended up there. You could roll around and run into cool stuff and there weren’t a bunch of idiots in lacoste shirts all over. Now, its a stampede friday, saturday, and sunday morning. I don’t even work at Baohaus those days cause the people that come suck. Its not the neighborhood peeps. We honestly don’t have anywhere to go to hang out. Crackhaus, Im sure is going to attract a lot of people outside the neighborhood, but I’m trying to establish an abrasive enough vibe so that they come once, try the food, and feel uncomfortable enough not to come back. Like all those yelpers that complain about our music and service at Baohaus, they don’t come back and its awesome! This is the goal!

Meanwhile, another high-profile, bao-happy mogul is making moves just above Delancey: Yesterday Michael Huynh revealed to Eater that he might take over the shuttered Allen & Delancey space.

Make Crack Like This [Fresh Off The Boat via Lo Down]
Guss’ Pickles Landlord Blocks Baohaus After Pressure From An Choi [Feast]
Michael Huynh Considers Moving DOB to Allen & Delance Space [Eater NY]

Eddie Huang Thinks His Baohaus Customers Suck, Plans ‘Abrasive Vibe’