Holiday Inn Proposes “Retro Bar & Grill” to Delancey

Holiday Inn finally decided to burn the brand onto the skin of its newest hotel location on the Lower East Side. The token green signage was affixed to the facade of 150 Delancey shortly before Hurricane Sandy graced our doorstep. And it somehow survived the storm. Now two months later we have an update on the obligatory restaurant within.

Some might revel in the fact that the new venture inside the Holiday Inn, dubbed Retro Bar & Grill, is actually your standard diner concept. There aren’t many of these around the neighborhood; Olympic and Remedy most readily come to mind.  However, ownership desires the coveted on-premise liquor license for the twenty-table establishment. Application documents delivered to Community Board 3 further reveal a menu of mid-priced fare, offered during the proposed business hours are 6:30 am through 11:00 pm.

As we’ve been chronicling, this particular Holiday Inn outpost is the handiwork of developer Sam Chang and architect Gene Kaufman. In fact, Chang himself apparently has a 50% ownership stake in Retro Bar & Grill. Work began here at the corner of Suffolk Street way back in late 2008. But don’t expect an opening anytime soon…for either the hotel or its restaurant. A quick check with the official website reveals the following announcement: “The Holiday Inn Nyc – Lower East Side is now accepting reservations for arrivals after April 7, 2013.”

Menu for Retro Bar & Grill on the Lower East Side by