The closure of one of the East Village’s most historic theatres will be forcing one popular sandwich shop to move into a brand new location later this year.
The William Barnacle Tavern has served as one of the East Village’s oldest bars and theatres for many decades. Located in the historic building established at 80 St Mark’s Place, the William Barnacle Tavern inherited an old mob hideaway that once housed some of the neighborhood’s most popular speakeasies during prohibition. A favorite haunt of figures like Al Capone, Frank Sinatra, and Harry Belafonte, the space was owned by notorious bootlegger Frank Hoffman, and operated by his underling Walter Scheib.
In 1964, the space was acquired by Howard Otway, the father of current owner Lorcan Otway, who transformed the speakeasy and jazz club into one of New York’s first off-off Broadway venues. The theatre famously launched “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” in 1969 and has played a pivotal role in expanding the East Village’s then-burgeoning experimental theatre scene. In fact, the theatre once hosted legendary playwright and restaurant reporter Jake Rogers, who famously hosted a short play festival in the space that radically shook the foundations of drama itself (according to some audience members, at least).
In July though, the New York Post reported that Otway and declared bankruptcy and would be forced to let the historic space go. While local artists and celebrities have mounted a fierce defense of the theatre, it appears that nothing more can be done at this point and the space will soon be acquired by a brand new entity. While the closure of the space is devastating for art lovers across the neighborhood, it is especially devastating to the restaurant operators who have called the space home for years.
Operating out of the William Barnacle Tavern, owners Ori Kushnir and Sivan Lahat opened up a small sandwich operation in 2019. Known as Foxface, the concept replaced a popular hot dog joint called Feltman’s, which previously operated out of William Barnacle’s service window before 2019. Longtime East Village residents themselves, Kushnir and Lahat had spent numerous years in Japan operating experimental popup concepts, before they finally had an opportunity to take over the Feltman’s space at 80 St Mark’s and launch Foxface.
Known for serving a rotating selection of daily sandwiches sourced with hyper-local ingredients, Foxface soon became a favorite of the neighborhood. Now though, the news of William Barnacle’s closure means that Ori and Sivan will need to a new location to move into. Thankfully, they have already been in the process of developing a brand new space at 189 Avenue A and are almost ready to move in. Originally planned for 2020, the space was intended to house a new concept called Foxface Provisions, where the team could smoke, ferment, dry, and cure their own ingredients on-sight.
The concept, which was planned to replace Harry & Ida’s Meat and Supply Co., was put on hold indefinitely once the pandemic began. Now that William Barnacle is closing though, Foxface will be moving their entire operation to the space at 189 Avenue A. In an email to their loyal customers, Ori and Sivan stated that their new spot “will be a bit of everything (but perhaps not a sandwich shop)”. What Now New York reached out to Ori and confirmed the move, though Ori was not quite ready to share any further details about the new concept. He is currently hoping to have the new space operational within a few weeks, but is not prepared to give an official date for a grand opening. The original Foxface will be serving their last sandwich this Friday if you still haven’t had an opportunity to check it out, and you can follow Foxface on Instagram for updates on all of their latest endeavors.
