The bad news: The Bourgeois Pig West, easily the coolest bar on Macdougal Street, is closing after this Saturday, and the East Village location is moving. The good news: Owner Ravi DeRossi says that he and the manager at his other bar, Death & Co., decided yesterday to reopen the West Village location in about a month as a Belgian beer bar. But that’s not all! Also in about a month, the East Village location will move across the street to 111 East 7th Street (a larger space, at 1,000 square feet) and morph into what the current location’s manager describes as a, um, “female Death & Co.,” seating 50 to 60 people for chocolate and cheese fondues and a larger wine list of 100 bottles and 50 glasses.
Philip Ward, head bartender at Death and formerly of Pegu Club, will design beer, wine, and Champagne cocktails incorporating fresh-squeezed juices and homemade ginger beer, and they’ll be served up by former Flatiron Lounge bartenders Katie Stipe and Cabell Tomlinson.
But wait, there’s more! About a month after that move (so, October/November) the original Pig will become a New World wine-and-beer bar serving gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and (irresistible gimmick alert!) homemade versions of the complete line of Hostess snacks. That’s right, fresh-made Twinkies and beer! Start buying your pants two belt sizes larger.
Correction: Katie Stipe and Cabell Tomlinson did not work at Pegu Club, as originally stated in this post, and are former rather than current Flatiron Lounge bartenders.
