Sept. 24, 2015 By Jackie Strawbridge
The owners of Studio Nova, a hair salon located on 36th Avenue, have opened a new tapas-style restaurant next door called 5.
The restaurant had a soft-opening last week, and will be holding its grand opening on Saturday.
Studio Nova opened at 37-01 36th Ave. last year in a 2,400 square-foot property. The operators never needed all the space and were left to contemplate how to use the rest of it, owner and Astoria resident Rado Ganev said.
“We didn’t use it for the salon because it would be too big,” he explained. “We were wondering what we can do about it, and we decided to do the café, using the outdoor as well.”
However, while the space would have been too big for the hair salon, it was too small as a restaurant, which led owners to a unique setup: 5’s kitchen is in a food truck, outside the restaurant and Studio Nova.
Ganev said he has long been interested in “combining two businesses together.”
“I think it could work for both businesses better that way,” he said. “Clients of the salon, they will check out [5] and they might like it, and might want to sit outside and enjoy a meal or a drink.”
Ganev called 5 a tapas restaurant because the all-organic menu focuses on shareable items.
Diners will not find traditional tapas, but instead beef, turkey or quinoa sliders, truffles and gorgonzola cheese, and tartines (open faced sandwiches) with cheese, shrimp, or skirt steak, among other options.
Following this weekend’s grand opening, 5 will also introduce a brunch menu.
Tartines run roughly $10-13, shared hors d’oeuvres run $7-$30, and four sliders come at $15.
Before opening Studio Nova, the owners had their eyes on a location close to Astoria’s cultural institutions, according to Ganev.
“You have a lot of those nice, interesting places,” he said. “I see a lot of potential in the area.”
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6 Comments
what about during the winter time? Where will peeps eat?
There is indoor seating. That why they decided to put the kitchen outside, there wouldn’t be enough room for a kitchen and seating. It’s pretty tiny, but very tasteful and comfy 🙂
Wow, pretty cool with the kitchen in the truck, hopefully they need to pass the same health inspections and regulations as a regular restaurant.
From what I saw passing by they did a great job on the hair salon and the restaurant with the menu painted on the outside wall looks very urban stylish. Hopefully the food will rate as highly as the decor. I guess we shall wait and see.
Waste of space. Why can’t we have a Pacha type club in Astoria?? All we have are gastropubs.
Well, Pacha NYC in Manhattan is 30,000 sq ft and this place is barely 2,400 sq ft. Not really enough room for what you are looking for.
If you really want a club like this and think there is a demand for it, perhaps you should get some investors lined up and build it yourself.
Went to the opening last night- totally not a waste of space.
Perhaps you’re the one wasting space?