June 9, 2016 By Christian Murray
A budding entrepreneur is putting her life savings on the line to take an old store on 43rd Avenue and create a new upscale bar/restaurant.
Esther Hwang, who plans to convert 49-09 43 Ave. into a restaurant, went before Community Board 2’s Public Safety and City Services Committee last night seeking a full liquor license.
Hwang said the venue would be called Logan’s Run Restaurant & Bar and would consist of “modern American cuisine with a Mediterranean and Asian-inspired twist.”
She said it would be upscale, yet unpretentious.
“Imagine you enter and you hear Dean Martin playing in the background, a classic Alfred Hitchcock film is playing on the TV screen and you order a nice juicy burger with a whiskey cocktail,” Hwang said. “And it doesn’t cost half a week’s pay.”
She said that there would be a specialty cocktail program and that there would be cocktail and food pairings. The food will be free of chemicals and there will be quality music, she added.
Hwang asked the Committee to allow her to be open from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. daily. She said she was targeting the late-night crowd, particularly service workers. She also wanted to be open as many hours as possible to maximize her business.
“I am putting my entire life savings into this, a huge project building from scratch,” she said.
Details as to how many tables and chairs there will be were not mentioned during the meeting, or when she planned to open.
However, the Committee was concerned with the hours she requested, since her restaurant is located below an apartment and is adjacent to residential buildings. Furthermore, she did not have a track record operating a restaurant in the community.
The Committee decided to restrict her hours until midnight on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It granted her until 2 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
