4 New Restaurants Opening on Upper East Side

Community Board 8 held its Street Life Committee meeting on Tuesday evening. Restaurant owners and their reps attended via Zoom in order to further their liquor license applications, and we learned about several new spots opening on the Upper East Side.

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Dean Pashalis is planning to open a new, currently unnamed restaurant at 961 Lexington Avenue (at East 70th Street), which was previously home to Neil’s Coffee Shop before it closed in 2023. The space is being built out now, according to a restaurant representative, and expected hours will be 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and until midnight on weekends. They’re expecting the interior to accommodate 12 two-person tables and they also plan to have a bar (though these plans don’t seem finalized). There was no explicit mention of what kind of food the restaurant would serve.

A full-service Italian restaurant called San Babila is being planned at 1355 Second Avenue (between 71st and 72nd streets), which was previously home to Millesima, a wine store. The space will accommodate 16 tables, 46 seats and a six seat bar, with expected daily hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and background music only. The owner is Filomena Biamonte, whose sons are the owners of Numero 28, according to the representative presenting to CB8.

The owners of IKYU–a sushi and Asian fusion restaurant located at 1718 Second Avenue (between 89th and 90th streets)–are planning a second location at 1475 First Avenue (corner of 77th Street). It will be called IKYU Sushi II, according to the application, and the space was previously home to Green Kitchen. The original IKYU opened in 2023.

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A Northern Italian restaurant called Pavin (or possibly Pavin 86, according to their liquor license application) is being planned at 1663 First Avenue (between 86th and 87th streets). The space was previously home to Lashevet, which closed in July 2024 after just opening in 2022. The restaurant is expected to be open daily between 11:30 a.m. and midnight, and the space will accommodate 15 tables and 32 seats.

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